Delara
by Eydie Munroe
Summary: B'Elanna's pregnancy is threatened when she is caught in an explosion, and she asks the Captain to be her surrogate.
1. Chapter 1

Delara

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: It's been 11 years, but somehow Paramount (and now CBS, apparently) still owns them. Since they don't want to seem to do anything with them anymore, I'm taking the _Voyager_ crew out to play. But I promise to give them only cookies and milk, and to have them home by eleven.

Note: This story was heavily inspired by the story "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by Mindy.

* * *

It had been more than a month since Voyager and her crew had been in any sort of altercation, and even longer than that since they had met with anyone friendly. They were now reaching the far end of a rather empty area of space, and their resources were stretched to the limit. Food and power were being rationed whenever possible, and a few non-essential areas of the ship had been completely closed down. The measures worked, and they were doing well despite the need for it, but there was one thing that they couldn't ration, and they needed more desperately than any other – termidonium.

They had been searching for termidonium for months now, the most critical element needed in order for B'Elanna to do the warp core refit that the ship desperately needed. Without the refit, the warp core would eventually break down as its structure deteriorated, leaving them flying with a ticking time bomb that would strand them in space. They would need to find a safe region of space to travel through at impulse while the most critical parts of the work went on, but it was a minor consideration until they could get the resources they needed.

"Captain, I am detecting a star system three light years away," Tuvok announced, breaking the comfortable silence that had blanketed the bridge a moment before. "According to scans, it looks like there may be potential sources of a number of minerals that are on Lieutenant Torres' 'wish list'."

Their leader turned in her chair to look at him. "Any signs of termidonium?"

"I am unable to confirm from this distance," he responded.

"Let's go check it out then." She turned back to the front, where Tom Paris was already plotting the course to get there. "At your leisure, Mr. Paris."

"Aye Captain." They jumped to warp a few seconds later for the short trip to enter the star system that Tuvok had discovered.

Chakotay leaned over toward the captain, his elbow resting on the console between them. "What do you think – maybe our luck is good today?"

"You never know," she said with a lift of her eyebrows as she cocked her head to the side. "If it is, I might challenge Mr. Paris to a few games of pool afterwards."

He chuckled. "Since when do you need luck to beat him?"

She laughed, just as Tom announced that they were dropping out of warp. Tuvok and Harry were actively scanning and collecting data, looking for what they needed. "It appears that the third planet is an M Class planet that has a number of large termidonium deposits, Captain," Harry reported first. "More than we would ever need."

_Never say that, Harry,_ she thought wryly to herself. _If there was ever a jinx…_ "Anybody around that might lay claim to it?"

"Negative, Captain," Tuvok told her. "The only planet that appears to have sustained any population is the third, and it is deserted."

Janeway frowned. "Let's see it." A visual of the planet's surface flashed up on the viewscreen, and she got onto her feet and moved up behind Tom to take a look. The soil and the atmosphere appeared red and rocky, and there were a number of structures that appeared to be half-buried in the soil. It reminded the captain of a desert gradually taking over an abandoned ancient city until it disappeared off the face of the earth. "There's nobody left?"

"Doesn't look like it," Harry said.

She looked at the visual again. "But there are roads…buildings…"

Chakotay checked his console. "It looks like an entire planetary infrastructure was built," he observed. "Industrial areas, residences, water distribution…"

"There are signs of weapons fire on a massive scale," Tuvok reported calmly from his station. "The structures on the surface have either been heavily damaged or completely destroyed."

The captain turned to look at him. "Is it recent?"

"Negative. There are no residual weapon traces. Sensors indicate that there has been no humanoid life on this planet for approximately five thousand years."

She turned back to the screen as Harry told them, "It looks like there are a number of huge mining complexes that were built over the termidonium deposits. They must have been extracting millions of tonnes at a time."

"Are they intact?" Chakotay asked.

"Yes sir – a few of them."

The captain smiled as she headed back to her seat. "Bridge to Lieutenant Torres."

_"Torres here, Captain."_

"B'Elanna, it looks like we might have a late birthday present for you. Feel like going mining?"

Torres was instantly excited. _"You've found termidonium?"_

"A large number of deposits. Could be the mother lode."

In Engineering, B'Elanna connected to the bridge links and took a look at the information that Tuvok and Harry had been reading through. _"It looks promising, Captain. I would recommend a scout mission first though to see what condition the mines are in before starting a full-scale excavation."_

"Agreed." Janeway looked to her left. "Commander Chakotay will join you to transport down in five minutes."

_"Aye Captain. Torres out."_

Chakotay got up to leave, and saw the look of concern on Tom's face. He knew that it had taken a long time for B'Elanna to finally get comfortable with the idea of a husband that wanted to protect her all the time, and was fine as long as Tom didn't try and nag her about it too often. But that agreement went out the window when they found out she was pregnant, and he was more protective of her than ever, which flew right in the face of her need to demonstrate that just because she was pregnant didn't mean she couldn't do her job. This was the first away mission that she would be going on since then, so the first officer could sympathize. "Don't worry Tom," he told the pilot. "I'll keep an eye on her." Paris nodded his thanks and turned back to his console. He then turned to the captain. "Any special orders?"

She grinned. "Only if you find a grove of coffee plants."

"Yes ma'am. I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later the pair checked in, reporting that they found nothing other than eerie silence and a lot of discarded equipment. _"It looks like everyone just dropped their tools and walked away,"_ Chakotay reported from the surface.

"Are there any signs of struggle or damage from bombardment?" the captain asked.

_"Negative. It's been left more or less intact. Structurally, it appears to be stable."_

_"I'm getting readings of a large vein of termidonium near the surface,"_ Torres interjected. _"Nearly half a kilometre across. Mining it out might be a lot easier than we first thought."_

Janeway looked over the readings that were being sent back to the ship. "How will you deal with the mine setup?" she questioned. "It looks like there are at least five levels of tunnels built over it."

_"I think we can actually use that to our advantage,"_ the chief engineer told her. _"The existing tunnels and ramps appear to end about a hundred metres over the vein itself. All we would have to do is punch a hole from there."_

The captain turned back to her left. "Harry, would we be able to beam the cargo containers up from there?"

Kim checked his readouts, then shook his head. "Negative, Captain. Transporters are unable to penetrate the bedrock the tunnels have been bored into. They would need to move the containers up to the surface before we could transport them."

"_Accessing the termidonium from the bottom of the tunnels rather than starting from scratch on the surface would save us hours of excavation time just getting to the vein,"_ Torres pointed out.

"_We'll just have to add more people to the mining detail to move anti-grav units to the surface and back,"_ Chakotay added. _"A little physical work certainly wouldn't hurt anybody."_

The captain smiled to herself. _Leave it to Chakotay to find a diplomatic way of saying we all need to get some more exercise. _"Agreed, Commander. Go ahead and check it out, and then we can discuss how to proceed."

_"Yes Captain. It seems –"_

Chakotay's voice was cut off by the sound of a massive explosion. Janeway's head snapped up from her console, her heart suddenly pounding in her chest. "Chakotay, report!" No answer came back. Tom whirled around in his chair, his expression one of escalating worry for his wife. "B'Elanna, respond!" Still nothing. "Harry, can you get a lock on them?"

"Not yet." His hands were flying over the controls. "I'm adjusting the thetaband frequency to try and compensate." The silence while they waited for the result seemed to last an eternity. "Got them!" he exclaimed with a rush of relief. "They're in Sick–"

_"Doctor to Lieutenant Paris,"_ the Doctor broke in. _"Report to Sickbay immediately."_

Tom looked to Janeway, who immediately nodded her approval. He left so fast that his chair was set spinning, stopped when Ensign Baytart moved in to replace him. The captain turned back to Harry and Tuvok. "What happened?"

Tuvok's hands flew over his controls as he gathered information. "It appears that there was a type of incendiary device embedded in the walls of the chamber they were in," he explained. "It did not appear on sensors."

"We were able to get them out because the explosion blew away part of the chamber's ceiling," Kim added from Ops, "and now that portion of the tunnel has caved in."

"See what you can find," she ordered the two of them. "And check the surrounding areas of the mines as well. I don't want anybody anywhere on the surface if there's a chance that the entire place has been booby-trapped. Tuvok, you have the bridge. I'll be in Sickbay."

"Aye Captain," he responded as she headed past him into the aft turbolift.


	2. Chapter 2

Delara

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: It's been 11 years, but somehow Paramount (and now CBS, apparently) still owns them. Since they don't want to seem to do anything with them anymore, I'm taking the _Voyager_ crew out to play. But I promise to give them only cookies and milk, and to have them home by eleven.

Note: This story was heavily inspired by the story "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by Mindy.

* * *

Once the lift had started moving, Janeway realized she was pacing and forced herself to stop. Pacing was usually a means to alleviate fear and concern, and she couldn't acknowledge that either of those existed right now. The Doctor's call to Tom meant that his services were required, but it could have just meant that he needed an extra pair of hands to treat injuries. She also knew very well what else it could mean, but she pushed that thought aside for the time being.

The atmosphere in Sickbay was tense when she arrived, though eerily quiet as the Doctor and Tom worked madly in the surgical bay. Dirty, burned and bleeding, Chakotay was sitting on the edge of a biobed on the other side of the ward, holding a thick bandage pack to the top of his head to try and staunch his wound. Her heart sank. B'Elanna's pregnancy had just entered its fifth month – still too early for the baby to be viable outside the womb. She held up a hand she saw Chakotay starting to lift himself off the bed, and he settled back down on the mattress. "What happened?" she questioned as she made her way over to him.

"I don't know," he told her with a voice that had been altered by the blast of heat and smoke. "One minute we were walking down an abandoned corridor – the next, I was on the floor twenty metres away." He started to cough, and she noticed that he was clutching at his ribs with his other arm. "B'Elanna was in front of me when it hit," he added when he could breathe again. "She caught the brunt of it."

The mention of her engineer turned Janeway back toward the surgical bay. The pace of the work was a little less frenetic now, with the doctor still working as Tom leaned down to talk to her. When she turned back to Chakotay, she saw that the blood was now starting to trickle down from under the bandages toward his right eye. "How's your head?" she asked as she lifted it to take a look.

"It hurts like hell."

She grimaced when she saw it – a long and deep opening that ran back well into his hairline. Looking around her, she spied a tricorder on a nearby tray and grabbed it, flipping it open with one hand before running the detachable sensor over and around his head. "It's a pretty good sized gash," she told him, "but it doesn't look like you've got a concussion." He didn't say anything; he was still trying to come to terms with everything that had just happened, and he was worried. But he was surprised when he saw the captain set the tricorder down and pick up a dermal regenerator. "Tuvok says that you two tripped a device that had been hidden in the wall," she told him as she ran it across the wound to stop the bleeding. "It must have been a leftover from whatever killed them all."

He sighed in frustration. "I was scanning for weapons, but nothing showed up." He noticed that Tom was now alternating between talking to B'Elanna and the Doctor and glancing over toward their side of Sickbay.

"Harry and Tuvok are searching for any more of them. I don't want anybody beaming back down until we know it's secure." The blue light disappeared when Kathryn switched the regenerator off, and she moved his hair around with her fingertips to make sure she hadn't missed anything. "There. Does it feel any better?"

Chakotay reached up to run his fingers over the now-healed skin while she put the regenerator back down on the tray. It still throbbed, but at least it was closed now. "Yeah, thanks." He looked down at the bloodstained bandages that sat on the bed beside him, then over to the surgical bay again. "I don't think it's worth going back at all."

"Normally I would agree," she said as she continued to examine him, trying to see if he was bleeding anywhere else. "But without that termidonium, we're going to eventually end up in escape pods. It took too long to find it to begin with."

He sighed heavily, his frustration clear. "I wish we could synthesize it."

She shook her head. "It won't remain stable long enough for the warp core injectors to use it."

They were interrupted when the Doctor approached, tricorder in hand. "Report," Janeway ordered.

"I'm afraid it's not good news," the hologram told her glumly. "B'Elanna has sustained severe internal injuries and a number of broken bones from the blast. With surgery, she should make a full recovery."

The captain could feel the breath catch in her lungs. "And the baby?"

The Doctor hesitated, but explained, "The injuries to her womb have made it unviable to support the fetus. I'll need to generate a replacement organ for her, but that will take a few weeks before it's ready."

"Can you put the fetus into stasis?" Chakotay asked.

"I'm afraid not. The longest we could keep the fetus alive in stasis is only a few hours. It's just not able to support the unique needs of a developing being." He paused, his empathy subroutine working with full force. "There is … one other option, however."

The command team looked at each other, then back to the Doctor. "What is it?" Janeway asked, wondering what he was about to propose.

Tom leaned down and kissed B'Elanna's forehead and whispered his promise that he'd be back, then walked over to join the others. "We can transfer the fetus from B'Elanna," the Doctor was saying just as Tom arrived, "into another woman who would act as a surrogate to carry it to term. It's an experimental procedure, and has only been documented as occurring once before this."

Janeway considered the idea. "How dangerous is that?"

"It's involves a high risk element because she is halfway through her pregnancy, and the chances of success drop the longer we wait," the CMO advised, "but there's a zero chance of the fetus surviving without it. And it would have to be one of the human female crew members. Implanting the fetus in a non-human surrogate would cause too many genetic complications."

She mulled it over, but there was really nothing to think about. "Alright, go ahead." Tom and the Doctor exchanged uncomfortable glances. "Something else?"

"Captain…" Paris said quietly. "B'Elanna would like … you … to be the surrogate."

The suggestion hit her like a ton of bricks, and her proud, professional stance faltered a little bit. All of the ramifications ran through her brain at once, not the least of which was whether or not it was something she actually wanted to do. "Me…?"

The pilot nodded nervously. "I normally wouldn't think of asking, but … you're the only one she trusts."

"You also happen to be a very good genetic match," the Doctor added.

Kathryn's mind was swirling as she tried to take the idea in. It wouldn't just be becoming pregnant – it would be becoming eighteen weeks pregnant all at once. And there were a lot of ship-related matters to consider. How would she run the ship when she reached the point where mobility could become an issue? What would happen if she went into labour in the middle of a battle? Or if she needed to conduct trade negotiations and the aliens they met with had an issue with her being pregnant? "I – I don't know…"

"Captain, please…" Tom pleaded, a tear slowly running down his cheek. "Please…"

Chakotay tactfully put himself in between the two of them. "Doctor, can you and Tom give us a minute?"

The Doctor nodded and headed back over to B'Elanna. Tom stood there just a moment longer and said, "We can find somebody else if you don't want to do it." Then he turned and left the command team alone.

He looked to his friend, who was clearly overwhelmed. "Kathryn?"

The sound of his voice broke her from her thoughts, but she was still shaken. "I – I don't know..." She started to pace in the small area between the beds. "How could I run this ship if I did?"

"Other captains have been pregnant and on duty before," he pointed out. "You certainly wouldn't be the first."

"But they could take time off if they needed it, or if they had had complications," she reminded him. "I don't have that luxury."

He caught her by the arm as she passed him to stop her. "Kathryn, Voyager doesn't stop when you sleep, or when you take a day off. Why would this be any different?" It felt a little cruel, but he had to be blunt. "There are a number of people that can command this ship when you can't. You may not believe it, but we can give orders too." Normally the sort of tone he was using would set her on edge, but now she was too distracted to really notice it. "And you're thinking like it would be your child," he added, "and that you would be raising it afterward. But this is Tom and B'Elanna's baby. You'd be giving their daughter the gift of life." She finally looked at him, still very much on the fence. "You know that I'll be here to support you," he told her. "We all will."

Her eyes dropped to the floor. "No. I can't. It's too scary. Too personal."

Now he grasped her hand in his, resting it in his lap and giving it a small squeeze. "Kathryn, I am not going to try and convince you to do this. You have to do what you think is right. But I know you. You're so focused on getting us home that you think any change in the way you live now will weaken you." He had found the words that got her dander up, but they had also gotten her to listen to what he was saying. "Don't let your fear of appearing weak be the reason why you turn them down."

She glared at him, feeling attacked by his words. But he had hit the nail on the head. Despite all the reasons that had run through her head when Tom asked, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, what it came down to is that she wanted to protect herself. Being pregnant and giving birth to a child would expose more about herself to the crew than she was comfortable with. In the back of her mind, she wondered when she'd become so closed off – she had never been that way before being thrown into the Delta Quadrant. But she knew that, in all good conscience, she couldn't turn them down. It would be just another piece of overwhelming guilt in the jigsaw puzzle that seemed to block her off from everyone else. The glare softened, and she warned him, "You could really be sorry you offered to help in a few months."

He gave her a small smile. "Just wait till you see the changes I make after you go into labour." Squeezing her hand again, he was completely serious when he told her, "Whatever you need…"

Her eyes fell down again, now settling on the hand that still held hers. She had to do it. She knew it. They could try and find another surrogate, but every minute they delayed lowered the chances of success. And even after they went through that effort, there was no guarantee that any other woman on the ship would want to do it either. She took a deep breath, then looked up to see Chakotay waiting for her answer. An unsteady nod was all she was able to give him, but it was all he needed. Relinquishing her hand, he watched her square her shoulders and raise her chin – her classic sign of strength and determination – and then he got down off the bed to follow her across the ward.

Tom was white as a ghost, the hand that stroked his wife's hair trembling. His entire body felt like lead when he saw the captain approaching. Kathryn looked at him, and then down to the chief engineer, who was hovering at the edge of unconsciousness. "B'Elanna?"

The patient licked her cracked lips and tried to get her mouth to work. "Captain… I…"

"It's alright," Janeway soothed, reaching down and resting her hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "You're going to be okay." She swallowed hard, trying to get past the lump in her throat before she added, "And so will the baby."

Tom looked to Chakotay to try and confirm it, but the first officer was absolutely unreadable. The Doctor's jaw dropped just a little – he had been convinced that she would turn them down. B'Elanna had heard perfectly though, and she felt comforted. Her voice gave out, and she only managed to mouth her thanks to her baby's saviour.

Kathryn gave her a warm smile that almost managed to hide the torrent of emotions she was really feeling. Turning to the doctor with her face an expressionless mask, she asked, "So what do we do now?"

"First we'll need you to get changed into some medical clothing," he told her, indicating that he should follow her, "and then we're going to make some space to accommodate the fetus."

"I'll head up to the bridge," Chakotay said, "and see how Tuvok and Harry are doing with their search."

"Just a moment, Commander," the hologram interrupted him. "The captain may have healed your head wound, but you're not going anywhere with those broken ribs. One wrong move and one of them could puncture an organ, and you'll go from just some simple bone reknitting to major surgery." He could see that the first officer was not happy about being penned in in Sickbay, but it was the best thing for him at the moment.

Another throb of pain as he spoke convinced Chakotay that the doctor was right. He eventually acquiesced, then told the captain, "I'll advise Tuvok of the situation." Clutching at his side when he started to cough again, he made his way into the Doctor's office to contact the bridge.


	3. Chapter 3

Delara

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: It's been 11 years, but somehow Paramount (and now CBS, apparently) still owns them. Since they don't want to seem to do anything with them anymore, I'm taking the _Voyager_ crew out to play. But I promise to give them only cookies and milk, and to have them home by eleven.

Note: This story was heavily inspired by the story "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by Mindy.

* * *

The Doctor was quickly moving from bed to bed to bed, humming to himself as he worked. B'Elanna was stable for the moment, though now sedated while awaiting surgery. The fetus had been transported from her body and was now being held in stasis, supported by an oxygen/carbon dioxide converter that was attached to the placenta to preserve the baby's organs and cells. The captain was lying on her back on one bed, and Chakotay was seated on the bed next to hers, a larger-scale version of the bone knitter strapped around his bare chest as it worked to repair the fractures in his ribs. Tom helped out whenever he was needed and healed Chakotay's other injuries, but mostly he stayed by the baby's side, fascinated and yet worried at seeing her in the middle of her development. The first priority was to get the fetus transferred; then they would be able to move on to the surgery.

Kathryn lay on her back with a medical device straddling her hips, unable to move as the machine worked to grow the skin over her abdomen. After that the Doctor would expand her own uterus to the size necessary before implanting her. As she lay there, she was still going over her decision again and again, flip-flopping on it every few seconds. _There's still time to change your mind,_ she would tell herself in one moment. And in the next – _that baby will die if you don't do this._

Chakotay soon grew bored with being able to do nothing but sit around as his bones were healed, so he eased himself off the bed and made his way over to hers. "How are you doing?"

Her eyes popped open, a little surprised to see him standing there. "I'm scared out of my mind," she confessed.

He knew that she had to be absolutely terrified to even think of admitting it. "You're going to be great." He smiled his most disarming smile at her. "I think you'll make a very cute pregnant lady."

"I'm going to look like I'm smuggling a basketball under my uniform," she groused. "What did Tuvok say when you talked to him?"

"That they haven't found anything yet. He's trying to find a sensor combination that will detect any more hidden explosives." After a beat, he added, "He also told me that what you're doing is 'a most logical course of action to preserve the life of Voyager's youngest crew member'." He was glad when she laughed, seeing a little of the tension drain from her face. "I asked him to inform just the bridge crew for now. We can think about how you want to present it to the rest of the crew later."

"Thanks." She looked up at him with pleading eyes. "I don't suppose we could keep this under wraps for the next few months, hmm?"

He chuckled. "Sure. We'll just tell everybody that you're smuggling a beach ball instead." She rewarded him with a weak shove, and he continued to laugh as he pulled a nearby chair over so he could sit down. "Everything's going to be alright, you know."

As much as she tried, she wasn't sure she could believe him. "I sure hope so."

The Doctor came over and lifted the top of the machine so he could check her progress. After a few moments of silently palpitating her abdomen, he said, "Well Captain, you're almost ready." He then prepared a hypospray, which he stopped to explain before administering it. "This will swell your uterus to make room for the fetus and the placenta. You may feel something akin to cramping, but be assured that it's only the muscles adjusting to the new volume." The effect was almost instantaneous, and while it felt like cramps, it was no more than the feeling of flexing any other muscle in her body. The Doctor examined her again with a tricorder, pleased that the medication was doing what it was supposed to. "I'm going to finish synthesizing the amniotic fluid, and then I'll be back in a few minutes to check on you." He then walked over to check Chakotay's bone knitter. "Another twenty minutes, Commander, and you'll be good as new."

"Thanks."

Tom finished preparing the instruments for the transfer, his stomach in knots when the Doctor came over to check on the baby again. "Are you sure this is gonna work, Doc?"

The hologram had put his typical bravado aside, and was filled with compassion when he said, "I'll do my very best, Mr. Paris. I promise you."

While they waited, Kathryn looked down at her abdomen, which had been left bare after the Doctor pulled her shirt up to examine her. "This is so weird…" she murmured, actually able to watch the relatively flat surface bulge and rapidly start to grow into a small dome shape.

He smiled when he looked down to see what she was talking about, and just for a brief moment, he let himself fantasize that he was looking upon the growth of his own child. "I know they say kids grow fast, but…"

The Doctor reappeared, once again checking her with the monitors and with his own hands. He smiled at her, resting a hand on the machine that was still open. "Well Captain, it's time," he announced, with a sincerity and kindness that he rarely displayed. "Are you ready?"

She drew a deep breath. "Ready as I'll ever be." She watched him move over to the technical console, and a sudden need for comfort overtook her. The feel of Chakotay taking her hand when she reached out to him didn't do anything to settle her, but at least she could hold onto the fact that he was there while she waited for the unknown.

The Doctor started to recite his actions as he worked. "Bringing the medical transporters online." Tom joined him at the console, watching the bio-signs of both the captain and the baby for any changes. "Transporting in three…two…one…now."

The sound of the transporter was drowned out by Kathryn's pulse thudding in her ears and the sound of her nervous breathing. At first she didn't feel anything, but then it appeared – a new weight that suddenly pressed her spine down into the mattress. She let out an involuntary gasp, and her grip on his hand tightened. "Breathe, Kathryn," he told her in calm tones. "Just breathe."

The CMO moved quickly, working to attach the placenta that B'Elanna's body had created to the new uterus wall before the fetus could suffer a catastrophic lack of oxygen, and to seal it within the new amniotic sac. It took a few tense minutes, but eventually he straightened up, sighing with relief. He ran a tricorder over the baby's new home to be sure, but there was no doubt of the results. "It appears that the transfer was a success," he announced as he continued to scan. "The fetus is showing no signs of oxygen deprivation or stasis-induced damage."

"And the captain?" Chakotay questioned, his brow furrowed.

The tricorder moved up around her chest and head. "Blood pressure is slightly elevated, but that goes hand-in-hand with stress-induced adrenaline production. But everything else reads normal." He flipped the device shut, and smiled assuredly at her. "You're just fine, Captain."

The bone knitter beeped to signal it was done, so the Doctor moved over to attend to the first officer. Tom took the hologram's place at her bedside, nervous and unsure. "Captain … I – I don't know how to thank you." There was an incredible awkwardness between them now, and all she did was give him a quick nod before dropping her head back on the pillow. Chakotay grimaced as he watched her eyes slide shut, closing Tom out as she tried to deal with the new sensations running through her body.

"Mr. Paris, I need your assistance please." Tom moved over to take the bone knitter from the Doctor, who had moved on to scanning Chakotay again with his tricorder. "Now the bones have healed, Commander, but this side will be tender for a few days. You can return to duty tomorrow, but you're under strict orders for light duty only."

The first officer was not happy, hating the thought of both he and Kathryn not being at full speed. But then he remembered the lecture that he'd just given her as she tried to make her decision and the irritation left, knowing that the bridge was indeed in good hands. "Understood," he acknowledged, slowly starting to put his green patient shirt back on. He stopped when he noticed her fingertips running tentatively over her abdomen, tracing its new shape as if she was checking to see if it was actually real. She looked over to him, both wonder and fear clear in her eyes.

"And Captain…" The Doctor waited until she was paying attention to him. "You're going to need some time for your body to adjust to being pregnant in this advanced state. I want you to take the next forty-eight hours off and rest. And I'll send a prescription to your replicator for pre-natal vitamins and for a twice-daily hypo of salaematin, which will keep your body from rejecting the foreign DNA that's just been introduced." He turned back to the first officer, who had just moved back to her bedside. "Can you see her back to her quarters?"

"Of course," he replied, lending her a hand to help her sit up.

The Doctor nodded. "I'll come by and check on you later on this evening. Contact me if you have any questions or if you need anything. Come with me, Mr. Paris." The hologram headed back over to the surgical bay, followed by his assistant to get ready to start B'Elanna's surgery.

Sitting was easy enough, but standing was a whole other matter. When she got on her feet, the fifteen or so extra pounds that had just been put on her front threatened to topple Kathryn – if Chakotay hadn't been there to catch her, she would have ended up face-first on the carpet. She latched onto the arm that he offered, leaning heavily against him as she slowly took a few steps. They made their way out into the corridor for the short trip to her quarters, but not without collecting a few confused looks from crew members that passed them along the way.

Between everything that had just happened, and walking to her quarters in what essentially equated to a new body, Kathryn was tired out. Chakotay helped her to the couch, then walked over to the replicator. He returned a few moments later with a steaming mug, which he offered to her. Her face lit up instantly, salivating at the idea of coffee after what she'd just been through. The cup stopped moving when she saw its contents though, and she looked up at him with the scowl of a child who didn't get what she'd wanted for Christmas. "This isn't coffee."

"No. It's hot water with lemon." He sat down beside her, feeling for her. "I'm afraid that coffee is going to be off limits for a while."

She pouted a little. "You know, out of all the things I considered, going without coffee wasn't one of them."

"Other ships had better hope they don't run into us for the next month or so," he teased. He saw her mood turn pensive. "What is it?" She was quiet for a while, and he waited patiently for her to answer him. "Kathryn?"

"I'm okay," she sighed. "This just wasn't what I was expecting when I woke up this morning. You and B'Elanna nearly killed…me suddenly pregnant with Tom's baby…again…" The thought of her having her pilot's baby again made her start to laugh. "I certainly didn't think _that_ was something that I was going to be doing twice in my lifetime." Out of habit, she took a sip from the mug. Just the fact that it wasn't coffee made her nose wrinkle. "So much can change so fast."

"But you're doing a great thing," he reminded her, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. "The baby would have died if it weren't for you."

She sank deep into thought. "I can't help but wonder… if they hadn't specifically asked me, and we had asked for volunteers, would I have stepped forward? Or would I have stood back, hoping that somebody else would take on the responsibility so that I didn't have to?"

"Maybe. Kathryn, nothing is going to change," he told her, again hitting her concern on the head. "This is still your ship, and still your crew. They're going to get to see another side of you – one that a lot of them think they should have seen a long time ago." She looked to him, and he could see that familiar look of irritation with the idea of people knowing her personal business. "Nobody's going to think of you any differently. As a matter of fact, their respect for you will probably grow when they see the lengths you'll go to protect any of them."

After a few moments of consideration, she fixed him with a skeptical eye. "You're laying it on a little thick, don't you think?"

He chuckled once again. "Maybe. But I believe every word of it."

"I'm going to need a lot of help from you," she quietly said after a while.

"You can count on it."

She took another sip from the cup, purely out of habit, then lolled it around in her mouth for a moment to actually taste it. Forcing it down, she looked at him with a lot of concern. "Are you okay?"

He gave her a funny look. "What do you mean?"

Kathryn knew that she could be evasive with him when he asked after her health, but she noted how he usually managed to not realize that he did it almost as much. "Chakotay, you could have been killed."

Sitting forward and resting his elbows on his knees, Chakotay let out a sigh. "I'm tired, Kathryn. There's days when I'd give everything just to be able to settle down somewhere and never have to think about going into space again." From her place behind him she frowned, knowing exactly what he meant.

They lapsed into silence, each being pulled into their own issues and concerns about the other. Just as he started to consider leaving, she suddenly reached over and grabbed his hand, laying it down on her newly formed belly. It took a few moments, but eventually he felt the flutter of movement beneath his fingers. He gasped, astonished at the sensation. Their eyes met, and her expression was a mirror of his, all of their previous worries suddenly gone. They both started to laugh, and he instinctively moved closer to her as she moved his hand around, following the baby's turns as it settled into its new home.


	4. Chapter 4

Delara

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: It's been 11 years, but somehow Paramount (and now CBS, apparently) still owns them. Since they don't want to seem to do anything with them anymore, I'm taking the _Voyager_ crew out to play. But I promise to give them only cookies and milk, and to have them home by eleven.

Note: This story was heavily inspired by the story "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by Mindy.

* * *

The investigation of the explosion never did turn up any other explosive devices, and eventually Tuvok cleared engineering crews to go down and collect the termidonium that they had been after in the first place. B'Elanna's initial surgery and uterine replacement went extremely well, and she was on her way to making a full recovery. But this latest brush with death had taken a toll on her because this time, it wasn't just her that she'd had to put at risk for her job. If it hadn't been for the Doctor's quick thinking, she would have lost her baby. And Tom's baby. And that almost made it worse than anything that could have happened to just her.

To her credit and despite her discomfort, Kathryn immediately searched for ways to include the couple in the baby's life. Tom took to it at once, _rolling with the punches_ as he told his wife one night. B'Elanna on the other hand was apprehensive, and still feeling like a failure for not being able to bring the baby to term herself. Many evenings after shifts were spent in either the captain's quarters or the Paris-Torres home, filled with conversation and planning and hopes for the future. At the captain's gentle urging, B'Elanna eventually came around and grew comfortable with the fact that, even though her body was no longer involved, she was still going to become a mother.

It didn't take long for word to get out to the rest of the ship about what happened. More than anything, Kathryn had wanted to keep it quiet. But Chakotay's insistence on cutting off gossip before it could start was compounded by the fact that by the time she returned to duty after the transfer, she already had to replicate herself a maternity uniform. And she found that he had been right. Nobody giggled, or pointed, or did anything that made her feel remotely like the side show attraction she'd feared she'd become. There was no shame in her being pregnant because everyone knew it was for a good cause. They said hello to her like they always did, and offered to help her a little more than she was comfortable with. But as the weeks went on it all became easier to deal with, especially after she started letting go of her doubts for doing it and just dealt with the doing.

Chakotay spent a lot of time with her as well, wanting to make sure that she did not at all feel isolated. It didn't take long for the coffee withdrawal to hit her full force, and he caught a lot of her mood swings merely because he was always around. "I'm not some frail old woman!" she spat at him one day in her quarters when she'd finally had enough. "Get out from under my feet!" His response was to settle back even further into his seat, clasping his hands together in his lap as he waited her out. "Why are you still here?" she snapped, more irritated than ever.

"I'm letting you get this out now," he told her calmly, "so you don't take it out on some poor crewman who happens to cross your path."

Rather than shout at him some more, she turned her back on him, so fast that she lost her balance and had to grab onto the corner of her desk to keep from falling. "Dammit!"

He was on his feet in an instant, grabbing her from behind to hold her upright. "What's wrong?"

She angrily shoved him off, then stopped to catch her breath, with one hand on her hip and her forehead resting on the heel of the other. "I can't get used to this!" she complained bitterly. "Nothing works right. I can't keep my balance, and I'm crashing into everything with this –" She gestured down at her belly, which now contained a fetus that was six months old. "This thing!"

"Come on." Chakotay took her by the elbow and led her over to the nearest armchair, then crouched down beside her as she settled down into it. "What's going on?" he asked her, rubbing his hand back and forth along her arm.

Kathryn didn't answer for a while, far closer to tears than she would ever admit. "I'm just having a hard time with this," she said when she felt strong enough to control her voice. "Every time I've finally gotten used to being pregnant, something in my body changes. I finally am able to sleep through the night, and she learns how to kick. I get the hang of walking again, and she changes position." She sighed, blowing the air out loudly through her teeth. "I'm completely irrational, and I take it out on everyone around me."

"No you don't. You've actually been very even-tempered with them," he told her. "As a matter of fact, Tuvok pointed out to me yesterday that he believes you're handling the situation very well." She huffed a bit of a laugh, and reached up to wipe away a tear that managed to escape. "You knew this wasn't going to be easy," he told her softly.

"I know. I know." She felt thoroughly sorry for herself. "This just isn't how I imagined this happening, you know? I hate that I'm doing this all alone, and it's not even for me."

He reached over and caressed her cheek in his hand. "Kathryn, you are not alone." Another tear suddenly ran down her cheek, and he brushed it away with his thumb. "No matter what, you are loved."

Kathryn's stomach suddenly went into knots, and she felt electrified where he was touching her. She knew that her hormonal upheaval was playing tricks with her brain, but she wanted to do nothing more in that moment than to kiss him. And it looked like he had the same idea too. For once, she wanted to explore where this feeling went, and was starting to consider just how to do it.

"_Sickbay to Commander Chakotay,"_ the Doctor's annoyed tone suddenly broke in through his communicator. _"You were due in Sickbay for your follow-up exam half an hour ago."_

Chakotay sighed. "I'll be right there, Doctor. Chakotay out." Kathryn was still looking at him, her expression now a remnant of what it had been a second ago. "I'd better go, or he's going to be nagging me all day. I'll check in on you later." He stood up, then leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. And after one more longing glance, he turned and headed out into the corridor.

She continued to sit there for a little while, eyes closed and breathing deeply as she relived what had just happened. The feeling of his lips on her skin seemed to linger, providing her with a calming effect that she never would have expected. The baby started to turn over, kicking her under the hand that she had instinctively rested on her belly. "Shhh…" she soothed as she rubbed her hand over it. The kicking seemed to subside, but the movement was still there. Kathryn realized just how much she actually enjoyed this sensation – as long as it wasn't while she was trying to sleep. Eventually she pushed herself up onto her feet, intending to head for the replicator but instead just starting to wander around the room as she relished the feeling of the baby moving inside her. "I can't wait to meet you," she eventually said to it as she continued to caress it with her hand. "Your mom and dad are so excited that you're coming."

Her gaze moved out to the passing stars, her mood turning much more pensive. "You know, no one was more surprised than I was when we found out about you," she thought aloud. "For some reason, I thought that nobody was ever going to have a baby on this ship again." She felt a twinge of guilt. "Okay, that's a lie. I guess I thought that just because I intentionally wasn't going to have one, that nobody else would either." The loneliness that she usually felt in moments like this threatened to engulf her again, but this time the feeling of the life she carried seemed to temper it. "I didn't want to make that decision," she admitted. "I wanted to get married and have a family just like anybody else." She got swept up in her remorse, and felt horridly alone. "But I guess that's just not in the cards for me."

The baby kicked her again, followed by stretching so that feet and hands were moving in opposite directions. Try as she might to wallow in self-pity, the baby was making sure that she couldn't set up residence there. "Well you're feisty today, aren't you?" Kathryn couldn't help but smile just a little, rubbing both hands over the baby as it continued to turn and kick. She just stood there, feeling every movement and, more importantly, realizing just how strongly she wanted to be experiencing it for herself. With a sigh she said, "Don't tell anybody this, but ever since you came stay with me, I've started to think that maybe I was wrong. Maybe I could have a family and still be able to get this ship home." She gazed out at the passing stars as she thought back to Chakotay's kiss just a few minutes before, and found comfort in the feeling of being so close to him. "Maybe…"


	5. Chapter 5

Delara

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: It's been 11 years, but somehow Paramount (and now CBS, apparently) still owns them. Since they don't want to seem to do anything with them anymore, I'm taking the _Voyager_ crew out to play. But I promise to give them only cookies and milk, and to have them home by eleven.

Note: This story was heavily inspired by the story "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by Mindy.

* * *

Things were relatively quiet for the next while, and scans told them that they were hundreds of light years away from any planets or fleets. So B'Elanna took the opportunity to finally refit the warp engines with the termidonium that had caused so much trouble for them. The refit meant a three weeks travelling at impulse until the critical phase was complete, and it left them with a pleasant stretch of uneventful travel.

Captain Janeway read the padd that had just been handed to her by Seven of Nine, reviewing her proposal for more modifications to the Astrometrics lab. They had spoken about it before, and now everything seemed to be in order. "I think this looks fine," she told the young woman, who stood stiffly in front of her. Kathryn remarked to herself how some things never changed, and how Seven's erect posture was more of a comfort now than it was off-putting. "When do you want to start?"

"In six point two hours," was the crisp reply that came back. "I must first regenerate in order to work at peak efficiency."

The captain leaned back in her chair. "Permission granted," she said as she handed the padd back. "Sweet dreams." Seven nodded her acknowledgement, then turned on her heel and headed back to the turbolift for the trip to the cargo bay.

Chakotay had been deep into the duty schedules when he noticed her starting to shift around in the command seat. "Baby standing on your bladder again?" he asked without looking at her. He didn't have to see her face to see the 'very funny' expression she was now giving him.

"No," she said as she leaned to the left and used her elbow to lift herself off the seat. "She's pushing against my sciatic nerve."

He looked up, and bit down the laughter that immediately came to mind when he saw the awkward position she was in, with cheeks that had reddened from the effort. "Do you want some help?"

She shook her head. "I'm okay. It doesn't hurt; it's just uncomfortable." It took her a few minutes, but eventually she found a new position to sit in that seemed to alleviate the problem for the time being. "You know, Mr. Paris, you're going to owe me for the rest of your life for this."

Tom had been watching her through the image that was reflected in a darker portion of his console. "I'm afraid I already signed that over to my wife, Captain," he smirked as he spun around in his chair. "All I can offer is some replicator rations and maybe leftover pizza if B'Elanna didn't eat it yet."

"Careful Tom," Harry chided from his station. "She might make sure you never eat again."

Everyone started to laugh as Tom put on a face of utter innocence. "You wouldn't do that to me, would you Captain?"

Janeway shot him a meaningless death glare. "Let's just say that if you're smart, you won't be anywhere near me when I go into labour." Beeping from the Tactical console interrupted, and she turned in her seat to check it out. "Tuvok?"

"There is a ship approaching directly ahead," he reported as he scanned his readouts. "They just dropped out of warp and are approaching us at impulse power."

"Let's see it," she ordered as she faced forward again. The screen image changed to show a small cruiser about half their size, its hull mostly dark brown with striking blocks of colour scattered across it.

"They're hailing us," Harry announced.

"Onscreen."

The image of an orange-skinned humanoid appeared, with fuzzy grey hair and wearing what looked like a happy expression. "Greetings," he said in a verbose voice. "You are strangers here..."

"I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager. We're just passing through as we head home."

"I am President Teekra of Alkira," he told her. "We were travelling back to Alkira when we saw that your ship is travelling at sublight speed, so we stopped to see if you required any assistance."

Chakotay and Janeway looked at each other, thinking the same thing. They'd been down this road before – somebody pretending to be offering help, and then using it to attack them. "We're fine, thank you," she replied, not wanting to give him any information on their tactical status. "We drop out of warp from time to time to give our scientists an opportunity to study the area we are travelling through more closely."

Teekra started to laugh, a hearty, booming sound that made a lot of people, including those they could see on his ship's bridge, smile broadly. "Well they must be very bored then, Captain. There's barely enough in this area to qualify it as space!"

The captain couldn't help but laugh. "That's what we found too." Beside her, she could feel Chakotay's tension level dropping along with her own. "President Teekra, we are travelling through space that is unknown to us. We were wondering if you might have any star charts that you would be willing to part with. Perhaps we could arrange a trade?"

"Alkira has much more to trade than just star charts," he responded. "I will meet with you on your ship. Satisfactory?"

She nodded. "Absolutely. Just contact us when you're ready to transport over."

Teekra seemed to stop for a moment. "Transport?"

"A matter-energy conversion tool we use for travelling from one place to another," Chakotay explained.

The confusion on the alien's face immediately disappeared, replaced by his previous joviality. "Ah, you mean relocation. Excellent. I shall meet you soon, Captain Janeway." The viewscreen flicked off, once again showing the oddly coloured ship.

"Well he seems friendly enough," Paris commented.

"Makes you wonder what he's up to," Chakotay added.

The captain listened to what they were saying, but had to disagree. "I don't think that may be the case, gentlemen. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that most humanoid species have common signals if they're being deceitful."

"Agreed," Tuvok chimed in. "I did not observe anything that would make President Teekra appear to have alternate intentions."

"Well, it's best to be safe at any rate," she said as she started to push herself out of her chair. It was getting harder and harder to do, and now at eight months, not necessarily something she could do by herself. She looked to Chakotay. "A little help?"

"Yes ma'am." He stood up and held his hand out to her, then pulled her up onto her feet.

She nodded her thanks to him, then turned back to Tuvok. "Commander, advise me when the President is ready to beam over. Then join Commander Chakotay and I to greet him in the transporter room."

"Understood."

"You have the bridge." She headed down into her ready room, with Chakotay a step or two behind her. Once they were both inside and the door was closed, she asked him, "What do you think?"

"He seems honest, as far as I can tell. I don't have any sort of nagging feeling that would normally put me off of somebody." The first officer shrugged. "Truth be told, it's been so long since we ran into somebody without malice that I've forgotten what it's like."

"That's as sad a statement as I've ever heard." She rolled her eyes and ascended the steps to the upper level. "Something to drink?"

He shook his head, but followed her and sat down while she got a glass of water. "If everything goes well, do you want me to take him on a tour of the ship?"

Kathryn fixed him with a look. "Why you?"

"Because you're eight months pregnant," he pointed out, "and you can't go more than fifteen minutes without having to find a bathroom."

"Don't exaggerate." She took a few sips from her glass before setting it down on the coffee table. "I'll be just fine. What I'd like you to do is to confirm with the different departments what they have in excess and what they're short on. If Teekra is willing to trade, I'd like to have it right at my fingertips."

"Understood. I'll have it for you in the next hour."

She noticed that he was staring at her. "What?"

He couldn't help but smile. "I can't believe how fast the baby is growing. You're going to need a larger uniform jacket by next week."

"Try tomorrow," she corrected as she tugged at the hem of it. "I could barely get this done up this morning."

Chakotay chuckled as he stood up. "Can I get you anything before I go?"

"No thanks." She made her way to her desk as he left, calling up what little information they had on this sector. _Best to be informed as much as possible._

* * *

The captain was the last to enter the transporter room after Tuvok's call. "Energize," she told Timmins.

The whir of the transporter came to life, and in a few seconds the blue and green particles swirled and solidified into the man they had seen on the viewscreen earlier. "Ah, Captain!" Teekra greeted, his arms held out broadly in front of him as if he was welcoming them. "It is a pleasure to meet you in person."

"Thank you, Mr. President. This is my executive officer, Commander Chakotay, and my chief of Security, Commander Tuvok."

Teekra greeted each of them by clasping his hands together in front of him and giving a small bow before turning his attention back to Janeway. "I must say, Captain, it was a very pleasant circumstance discovering your ship as we travelled. Normally once we leave the Manri Sector, we don't see any other ships until we reach Alkira."

"How far away is Alkira?" she asked.

"Two hundred light years," he explained. "We are on the outer circle of the Flamengar Empire."

"I'd love to hear more about Alkira and the Empire," she said, turning on her best diplomat. "Can I interest you in a tour of the ship?"

They didn't think it possible, but Teekra seemed to brighten even more. "That's very generous of you. Lead the way, Captain." He followed her out into the corridor, trailed by the other two officers. The president's eyes were everywhere, taking in all the detail that he could. "Your interior design is most unique," was his first comment. "Very simple, with monochromatic colour."

Chakotay thought back to when Neelix first tried to add his personal decorating flair to certain areas of the ship. "Is your ship's interior at all similar to its outer hull?" he asked.

"Very similar, yes. Colour is an essential component of how our brains work, so it is incorporated into all of our designs." The president turned his attention back to the woman whose head only came up to his shoulder. "So tell me about this journey that you are on."

* * *

After they sat down and discussed trade, the captain took Teekra down to the mess hall to finish the tour. Since it was almost the end of dining hours, there were only a few crew members milling about, most of them involved in a spirited board game in the corner. The captain smiled at the sound of their laughter, knowing that it would probably impress Teekra even more. "And this is our morale officer, Mr. Neelix," she introduced when they stopped at the counter.

"Also head cook, journalist and scout," Neelix added, coming around the end of the counter and vigorously shaking the Alkirian's hand.

Teekra cocked his head as he observed the furry creature. "I have not seen anyone else of your race aboard this ship," he said.

"I'm afraid I'm the only one, Mr. President," Neelix told him.

"We actually met Neelix after we arrived in this quadrant," Janeway added. "He's Talaxian."

"Talaxian?" The name clicked for him. "Ah yes, I know this name. We heard reports of a small group of Talaxian ships that crossed through our space a number of years ago."

"Really?" Neelix was instantly intrigued. "Do you know where they were going?"

The president's happy attitude fell for just a moment when he said, "I'm afraid not. The news reports only said that they were travelers unique to our sector, and that they were searching for a new home."

"Were you aware of any expeditions heading out this way from Talax, Neelix?" the captain asked him.

Neelix thought about it for a moment. "As a matter of fact, there was. About ten years ago, a group of adventurers left our world to explore. But we lost contact with them soon after and assumed that they were destroyed. Isn't that interesting!" The morale officer took it in stride. "Well, are you hungry? We have a lovely Zalgarian stew this evening."

Teekra lit back up again. "I am very excited to try it, Neelix. Thank you."

Their host then looked to the captain, who just waved him off before leading the president over to a table beside the windows that would afford them some privacy. "I am very impressed with your ship, Captain" Teekra said as he took a seat. "It's rather rare in the Empire to find anybody with a ship on the same level as ours."

"Not everyone is technologically at the same level as Alkira?" she asked, easing herself down into her own chair.

"Our ship design evolved out of necessity, as Alkira is the only world in the Empire that is this far from the central capital. The other worlds are clustered close together, so they only have need of short-range ships."

Neelix arrived with a tray in one hand, and a mug in the other. "Here you are, Mr. President," he said as he put the tray down in front of their guest. "Zalgarian stew, as promised." He then set the mug of hot water and lemon down in front of the captain. "Just let me know if I can be of any further help. Enjoy!" Then he disappeared just as quickly as he had arrived.

Teekra picked up the cutlery that was on the tray and examined it, then eventually picked the implement that he felt would do the job for him. He loaded the spoon and took a bite, mulling it over as he worked his teeth through it. "Wonderful! Just wonderful!" Janeway grinned, leaning against the back of her chair as she cradled the mug in her hands, resting its bottom on top of her belly. "I have never tasted anything like this before." He started to take another spoonful when he realized something. "You're not eating, Captain?"

"I actually eat very little these days," she explained. "The child that I'm carrying presses against my stomach and limits the amount of food I can consume."

Teekra thought about it for a moment. "Interesting. Our females have a similar issue when they are pregnant, but because they carry the baby on their back, it impinges on their nervous system. It never affects their ability to eat." His words reminded him that there was food in front of him, so he took the opportunity to take a few more mouthfuls before continuing. "I did notice that there aren't any children on Voyager, and yet you said that it's entirely possible that you will not reach your home in your lifetime."

"We actually do have one child on board who is five years old," she corrected. "This will be our second. Voyager could eventually become a generational ship, but so far these are the only children."

He spooned up the last of the stew from the tray and hungrily put it into his mouth, taking a moment to savor the taste before swallowing it down. "You must be very excited then."

She took a long sip from her mug before she answered him. "We are. A baby is always a new beginning."

"Indeed it is. It is an event to be celebrated. With song and chanting and an offering to the riskorri."

"The riskorri?" She loved the way the name rolled off her tongue. "What is that?"

He was clearly excited at being able to tell her more about his world. "The riskorri are a vital part of our culture. You see, Captain, Alkirians are deeply connected to each other and with the planet, and we honor the carrier of every child because they have been entrusted to bring life to another generation. The riskorri are creatures that live in the mountain peaks – our ancestors used to believe that they were sky guardians that protected us from attack from above. So when an infant is expected, the family travels to a cheshal tower, bringing offerings of fruit and other foods they have grown in their home. Then after the chanting ceremony is completed, the family places the offering in the open and calls to the riskorri, who fly down to consume it."

"It sounds fascinating," she said, clearly entranced by the idea.

The president bowed his head in acknowledgement. "It is a tradition that goes back thousands of generations, and it solidifies the harmony in which we all live." He smiled. "Perhaps, if you come to Alkira, we can arrange one for you."

Kathryn suddenly felt uncomfortable. She was having enough issues with just being pregnant, never mind wanting any part of being honoured for it. "Mr. President, that's really not necessary," she told him calmly, making it sound like it wasn't any big deal.

"Nonsense. Every new mother deserves to be honoured in this manner." He looked a little puzzled as to why she wouldn't jump at the chance, but figured it was just a human quirk. "Well Captain, I should be returning to my vessel. We need to be back at Alkira in time for the state ministers' conference four days from now." He got onto his feet, picking up his tray and utensils in one hand, while offering the other to Kathryn.

Smiling to herself, Kathryn wondered how Chakotay could have possibly enrolled Teekra in his 'help Kathryn' plan. "Thank you, Mr. President," she told him as he helped her to her feet.

"Please, call me Teekra." After dropping his tray back at the main counter and saying goodbye to Neelix, they started to make their way to the transporter room. "We'll finish the supplies transfer before we get underway," he confirmed as they stepped out of the turbolift onto the right deck. "And I do hope that you will come to visit us on Alkira soon, Captain. You and your crew will be most welcome there."

"I look forward to seeing it," she told him with a broad grin as they passed through the doors. "We shouldn't be more than a week or so behind you."

"Excellent. I will make all the arrangements for your arrival, and our attractions and facilities will be made available to your crew. Alkira is a world full of nature and cities – there is something to make everyone happy." Teekra turned to face her. "I have enjoyed your company, Captain Janeway. I hope that we are able to spend more time getting to know each other when you arrive."

"As do I." She held out a hand, and after his experience with Neelix, he knew what to do.

After shaking her hand, Teekra climbed the steps up to the transporter pad. "Safe journey to you, Captain." He nodded to Timmins, and a second later disappeared off the platform.

* * *

Chakotay had returned to his quarters after his shift on the bridge was finished, and after changing out of his uniform, he settled into a lounging chair with a cup of tea and the book that he had left on the small table beside it the night before. He was dying to know how the meetings had gone, so the book was meant to be a distraction until he heard from her. And it worked – he was about six chapters further along when his door chime rang. "Come in."

Kathryn stepped inside, glancing around the room before spotting him in the corner near the window. "Am I disturbing you?"

She looked like she could use a laugh, so he put down the book and laced his fingers behind his head. "Yes, as a matter of fact. I am in the middle of some very important loafing around for Starfleet Command." Her chuckle was his reward. "Can I get you something?"

"Just the usual," she said as she settled down on the couch, taking a few moments to ease into it.

When he turned around from the replicator, Chakotay saw that she was trying to find a way to cross her legs and be comfortable at the same time. It was easy to see that she was having a hard time breaking that one particular habit, even though it had been months now since she was really supposed to. So he handed her the mug, then reached down and slid the end of the coffee table nearest to her within a half a metre so she could put her feet up on it. Kathryn gave him a grateful smile, stretching out her legs and crossing them at the ankles. "How did it go?" he asked as he sat down next to her.

"Really well, actually. Teekra is giving us a third of the supplies they're carrying now, and we'll be free to take whatever resources we need when we reach Alkira. Plus shore leave for the crew." She took a swallow from the mug, still not happy about it. "God, I miss coffee."

Her friend felt some sympathy for her. "I know you do." He picked his own mug up off the side table and drank some. "So we're going to Alkira then?"

"It's only two light years off of our course, and I'm confident after spending some time with Teekra that it should be safe enough for us to visit." She settled back against the cushions, once again cradling the cup in her hands. "When was the last time we just got to relax under a genuine sun, Chakotay?"

"It's been a while." He couldn't even remember, it had been so long. "There will be a lot of happy people on Voyager when you announce shore leave."

"Me most of all." She was tired, her exhaustion now catching up with her after what had become a rather long day. "I need some time off."

Chakotay blinked – she had just said words he never thought he would ever hear from her. "You do?"

"Mmm hmmm…" After setting her mug down on the table, her head had fallen over the back of the couch, and her eyes had closed as she relaxed. Sensing that he was staring at her, she grumbled, "Yes, it's finally happened. I want a vacation."

"I heard you," he teased. "I'm just still trying to believe it."

She shot him a warning look, but was smiling nonetheless. "What can I say? Getting pregnant finally made me give in."

He couldn't help himself. "Well if I'd have known that, I'd have gotten you pregnant a long time ago."

They were heading back into territory that they hadn't been through for a few weeks now. The kiss in her quarters seemed like a distant memory, one that she had trouble believing had even happened. She picked her head up, eyes narrowing as she challenged him. "Oh you would have, would you?"

To say that he was shocked at how she responded to him would be an understatement. He knew that she was being affected by hormones, but the only thing that they had really done was for her to let him more into her personal life because she needed the help. Her resolutions about him hadn't changed at all. Wondering just what might be going on, Chakotay set his cup down, and decided to test the waters. His voice took on a husky, insinuating tone when he told her, "Given the chance."

Again she felt the need to explore, and right now it felt safe to do so. She pulled her fingertips up the front of his tunic before resting them at the base of his neck. "You, uh … think you've got what it takes?"

He thought his ears were going offline – she couldn't have just said what she did. "Well, I can get the Doctor to write you a report on the matter," he offered as he moved closer to her.

Kathryn was just as surprised as he was. It wasn't as if he'd never been close to her before, but this was the first time that it was methodical and deliberate. She leaned in toward him, close enough that she could feel his breath on her cheek. "That might make for some interesting reading."

He grinned. "You'd better believe it."

They sat there for a few moments, radiating with energy and excitement at this new turn of events. He finally moved in to kiss her, not quite reaching her lips when a ripple of pain raced through her abdomen. She cried out a little as she bit her lip, startled as her hands flew to where she felt it. He was instantly alert. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know." Her breathing started to get heavy, and the pain hit her again, much harder this time.

"Come on." He had her up in a flash, then led her out the door and down to Sickbay.


	6. Chapter 6

Delara

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: It's been 11 years, but somehow Paramount (and now CBS, apparently) still owns them. Since they don't want to seem to do anything with them anymore, I'm taking the _Voyager_ crew out to play. But I promise to give them only cookies and milk, and to have them home by eleven.

Note: This story was heavily inspired by the story "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by Mindy.

* * *

The Doctor came out of his office as soon as he saw Chakotay practically dragging her into the ward. "What's going on?"

"She was fine until a few minutes ago," he explained. "It just came out of the blue." Another painful stab ran through her, and her knees buckled, crumbling her against him.

"Get her on the bed." The Doctor snatched a tricorder from a nearby tray, turning just in time to see Chakotay lift Kathryn onto the biobed. He was quiet for a minute or two as he scanned her, frowning at first. Then his expression turned to one of gentle chiding. "You're going to be just fine, Captain," he said, exchanging the tricorder for a hypospray.

Chakotay looked confused. "What is it?"

"Somebody just forgot to take her salaematin shot this afternoon, that's all." He injected the dose into her abdomen, and it only took a few seconds for the pain to stop. "Better?"

She nodded, looking down at her body to try and figure out what had just happened. "What was that?"

"Missing a dose of salaematin caused the baby's DNA to come into conflict with its environment," the hologram explained as the two of them helped her sit up. "Your body started to reject it."

Kathryn took a few deep breaths to get her bearings back. "It came on awfully fast."

"Well, we're still technically in the middle of an experiment," the Doctor explained. "I read all of Doctor Bashir's records thoroughly before the transfer, but his subject was a Bajoran carrying a fully human child, and there weren't any rejection issues. Normally the mother of a Klingon-human hybrid would naturally be immune as the alien DNA is mixed with hers at conception. But as the baby has B'Elanna's DNA and not yours, we need the salaematin to prevent rejection. Since the medication has such as short period of effectiveness, all it takes is being two or three hours late for a dose for this to happen." He reached for another hypospray, which he then pushed into the side of her neck. "There you are, Captain. Good as new."

She absently rubbed at her neck. "What was that for?"

"Just a mild sedative to bring your heart rate back down. Your blood pressure has been a little erratic over the past few days, so no point in taking any chances." The tricorder magically appeared in his hand again, doing some final scans of both of them. "You and the baby are just fine. You're free to go," the hologram told her. "Please, get some rest."

Chakotay offered his arm as a brace, which she used to pull herself down off the table while she muttered, "Seems that's all I do these days." She missed the amused looks that were exchanged between the other two, who noted that if she had the strength to grumble, she must be feeling better.

Kathryn was out the door and into the corridor by the time that Chakotay caught up to her. "You sure you're okay?" he asked, falling into step beside her.

"I think so. At least the pain is gone now." She could feel the baby turning head downward. "Damned thing is moving around in there like nothing happened." They walked the rest of the way in silence, and every once in a while she would reach out to grab his arm to steady herself. The experience, laid on top of her exhaustion from playing tour guide and negotiator all day, would occasionally rob her of her balance. When they reached her quarters, he keyed the entry and let them both inside.

She stopped about halfway in the room which, after the door closed, sank back into the twilight darkness that came from travelling through space. Standing behind her, Chakotay waited to see what she was going to do, anticipating sitting down or possibly saying goodnight. He thought back to what had happened in his quarters, and wished that they could have had just a few seconds more to have an actual encounter instead of yet another fleeting halfway memory. So it shocked him when she suddenly turned around, tears running down her face as she walked into his safe embrace. "Shhh…" he whispered to her, rocking her slightly as he wrapped one arm around her back, and bringing the other up so he could cradle her head in his hand. They stood there for the longest time in silence, with him giving her all of the strength that he had. After a while, he looked down and found that she had stopped crying, and was just resting with her cheek against his chest, holding onto him for comfort. "Are you okay?" he asked her softly. She didn't answer. "Do you want me to go?" he tried. She still didn't answer, and he realized that she was half asleep. "Come on," he said as he led her to her bedroom. "You need to lie down."

Kathryn only mumbled something unintelligible when he helped her sit down on the edge of the bed, moaning with pleasure when he pulled the boots off her swollen feet. Next was her jacket, which managed to get stuck at the bottom of the zipper where it was too small. "You should have replicated that larger size this morning," he commented as he tried to get it to budge.

The pulls on the fabric woke her up a little bit, and she sleepily pushed his hands away in order to try it herself. But the zipper refused to let go, leaving them with only one alternative. Grabbing the jacket by the bottom, Chakotay pulled it up over her head so she could pull her arms out. When she raised them, the bottom of the grey shirt she wore underneath popped up, exposing her belly. Realizing it brought on a small adrenaline rush that woke her even more, and she flushed with embarrassment as she hurriedly tried to pull it back down into place. He saw her doing it, and he realized that despite how it had seemed to everyone, she really was still incredibly uncomfortable with being pregnant. And she was missing the key thing that almost every other human mother usually got in some shape or form – intimacy. Not a single part of this entire process had given her any sort of intimacy with anyone. "Hey, it's okay," he said to her, catching her hands to still them.

"No…" She shook her head, but didn't pull back from him.

"Kathryn…" He waited until she was looking at him, then carefully placed his hand on top of her belly. "This is beautiful." He could see that she was going to protest again. "Listen to me." She fixed him with a look of utter disbelief, reflexively showing that she felt he was coddling her. So he started to rub his fingers over a small spot, and looked back up at her with the same warm smile she'd fallen for so many years before. "This is a beautiful woman having a beautiful baby." He then tugged at the shirt until it moved up again, and gently ran his hand across the bare skin that it exposed.

She drew a sharp breath at his touch. It wasn't the first time that anybody had touched her belly, of course, but her authority with everyone on the ship had established a line that couldn't really be crossed. She knew that their touches came out of curiosity and wonder, but only Tom and B'Elanna's came from love. And it was love for their child, which was not nearly the same as love for her. To her, that was the worst part of it all – because there was no love connected with this baby for her, it had only fuelled her conflicted feelings about carrying it. She sighed as he continued to run his hand in circles over her skin, which he purposely did to try and take some of her awkwardness about it away. Eventually, he leaned down and kissed it, lingering there for a moment when he felt one of her hands rest in his hair.

He sat back up again, seeing the emotions that were being churned up for her. "You know, when I said you weren't going to be alone in this, I meant it," he said as he reached up and stroked her cheek. "You are so loved, Kathryn. So loved." Her eyes slid shut when he touched her face, just reveling in the sensation of being touched like this for the first time in years. She reached down to cover the hand that still rested on her belly with her own, and a small bit of happiness ran through him when he realized that he was finally getting through to her. Caressing her cheek in his hand, he finally leaned in and gently kissed her. When he pulled away, he saw that tears were running down her face again, so he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, continuing to hold both her and the baby while she let out all of the lonely feelings she had been holding onto for so long.

"It's late," he said after a long while. "You should get some sleep."

She knew he was right, but Kathryn did not want to let go of him. Now that she had finally let him get close to her, it was too easy just to fall into the fantasy that everything truly was alright, and that she was finally having the life that she was supposed to have had. So she stayed put, readjusting her head on his shoulder, and smiling to herself when she felt him kiss her hair.

Chakotay could finally feel contentedness from her, something that he'd wanted to see for months now. He hated to pull away from her, but he knew that she really did need to rest. "Come on," he told her as he helped her to sit up. "Let's get you to bed." She mumbled something he couldn't quite make out as he laid her down, and then she rolled over onto her side, facing away from him. He retrieved the extra blanket that she kept neatly folded on a shelf nearby and covered her with it, watching as she reflexively grabbed the edge and pulled it up under her chin.

Kathryn was nearly asleep when she felt movement in front of her. Forcing her eyes to open, she saw him crawling in under the blanket with her. "You're not going?" she murmured.

He settled in facing her, his head resting on his shoulder as he reached over and stroked the top of her head. "Not tonight." Her eyes slid closed again, a wisp of a smile on her face. With a gesture he had seen from her so many times before, she reached over and placed her hand on his chest. This time he covered it with his own, holding onto her until they both fell asleep.

* * *

Kathryn awoke from the most restful sleep she had gotten in months at about five the next morning, still in the same position she had fallen asleep in the night before. She was aware of Chakotay's presence before opening her eyes, and found him lying on his back and quietly snoring. It wasn't the first time she had ever seen him asleep, of course – during their stay on New Earth, she had run across him more than a few times while he was napping in the hammock he'd strung up behind the house. But there was a peacefulness to it that she had forgotten about, as if it was a time when he was truly at one with himself and the universe.

She closed her eyes again and readjusted her head on the pillow, but didn't fall back asleep. Her mind drifted lazily through many different thoughts and feelings, but more than anything, she felt warm and safe, and utterly content. Looking at him again, she wondered what it would be like if this was actually her life – waking up together, forming a family together, sharing their lives and their journey together. She had always stuck to protocol, citing regulations as the reason why she could never have a relationship with her subordinate. Now it seemed like such a futile idea – the chances of them actually making it back to Starfleet in their lifetimes were only fair. So why would she continue to adhere to those rules when no authority could actually reach her to make her do anything other than what she wanted?

A couple hours later, Chakotay awoke with a bit of a start, disoriented and wondering where he was. When he looked around, he found Kathryn seated in front of the mirror of the small vanity that sat in the corner, brushing out her hair. She was already in uniform, her newly replicated jacket hanging over the back of a nearby chair. "Good morning," she greeted with a warm smile. "How did you sleep?"

He was still in the process of waking up, so he didn't answer her until well after he had sat up and got his bearings. "Fine, thanks." She got up using the vanity as leverage, then brought over the steaming mug that had been sitting next to her and offered it to him. He looked up from rubbing his eyes, expecting her usual hot water and lemon but instead finding jet black liquid inside. "Coffee?"

"Well I figure one of us should have some," she told him.

Taking the cup from her, he asked, "How did you know when I'd wake up?"

She chuckled a bit. "If you hadn't woken up on your own, I'd have given you about another five minutes. It's almost time to go to work."

He eyed the coffee in the cup, then her, suspiciously. "You didn't happen to sneak a little of it out of here, did you?"

Now she laughed, placing a hand on the mattress to brace herself as she sat down. "Maybe just a sip. It does have cream and sugar in it, after all." She crinkled her nose to make her point, and he started to laugh. "Besides, I've been a good girl all these weeks."

Chakotay took a swallow, pleasantly surprised that it was indeed sweetened how he liked it, and that it had cooled to the perfect temperature. She had tried once or twice in the past to give it to him black, or to serve it at the hotter temperatures that she liked. "You certainly have."

Her tone turned a little more serious now, but still had the easy, lifted feeling it had a moment before. "I need to get to the bridge a few minutes early so I can talk to Harry before he turns in," she told him. "But… I just wanted to say thank you. For what you did last night." She watched the expressions that flitted through his features. "It really means a lot to me."

He was a little dumbfounded, but his heart swelled at the same time. In the second or so he'd had to think about it after waking up, he had feared that she would be cold and distant now, and would shut him out completely and tell him it had been a mistake. "You're welcome." He handed her the mug, which she put down on the night table, and then he took both her hands in his, again surprised that she didn't pull away. "You know how I feel about you," he told her. "That hasn't changed."

Her eyes fell, gazing at the hands between them. "No. But maybe I have."

"What do you mean?"

Taking a deep breath, she explained, "This pregnancy thing has gotten me thinking. A lot. About what's missing in my life, and…what I could have if I'd just stop being so damned stubborn."

Her voice trailed off as she thought more about it. "You could be having a lot more fun," he pointed out.

She laughed. He always did know how to talk to her. "Yeah, I could." It took a bit, but she wanted to get out what she needed to say. "Chakotay, I'm not going to make any assumptions about anything. And I'm not going to try and dictate whatever does happen. But I want you to know that I – I don't think I'm averse to having a life anymore. I don't want to hold onto protocol anymore."

"Oh Kathryn…" His heart was pounding, his breath stuck in his chest. Again he reached over to touch her face, and this time, she was the one that leaned in and kissed him. They both wrapped their arms around each other, just taking a few moments to let what she had said sink in. They would have stayed that way, but the baby decided she needed some attention of her own – her kick was so hard that Chakotay felt it in his side. "Ow!"

She started to laugh again when they broke apart, rubbing her hand over where the baby was still at it. "Sorry about that. She seems to be in kickboxing mode today."

He reached over and laid his hand on her belly, still amazed by the sensations he felt from it. "I think B'Elanna's side is starting to come through. Feels like she's breaking furniture in there." She watched with amusement as he leaned down and scolded the baby. "Do you mind? We're trying to talk here."

Kathryn was laughing and shaking her head at the same time. "I have to get going."

Chakotay sat up again, seeing the look of absolute contentment and happiness she was wearing. He hated to let her go, but things needed to get done. "How about dinner tonight?"

"I can't. I'm already having Tom and B'Elanna over. But you're more than welcome to join us."

"I'd like that."

"Good." She gave his hand one last squeeze, then pushed herself up onto her feet. "I'll see you on the bridge."

* * *

After dinner, the four of them moved over to the sitting area for drinks. Kathryn sat on the couch with B'Elanna beside her, while Tom and Chakotay took the armchairs that sat on the other side. "Here." Kathryn took B'Elanna's hand and laid it down where the baby's head was moving from bottom to top again. "She's been like this all day."

"Are you able to get any sleep at all?" Tom asked, thoroughly enjoying watching the giddiness on his wife's face as she followed the baby's movements with her hands.

Chakotay and Kathryn's eyes met out of reflex. "Some," she told her guests. "But it really depends on whether or not she wants to sleep when I want to. Which usually means no."

"I'm sorry, Captain," B'Elanna apologized. "I didn't realize she'd be so taxing on you."

"It's alright, B'Elanna. I won't hold it against you," she soothed, patting her on the arm. "And please, call me Kathryn."

Torres thought about that for a moment. "That's going to take some getting used to… Kathryn…"

The captain chuckled when Chakotay helpfully added, "It comes with practice." He noticed Tom and B'Elanna look at each other, silently discussing something. He saw that Kathryn noticed it too, and wondered what was up.

"Actually, while we're on the subject of names," B'Elanna said, "there's something that we wanted to talk to you about."

"What's that?" their surrogate asked as she reached for her mug.

"Well, we've finally decided on a name," Tom told them. "We're going to name the baby Delara."

"Delara Paris…" Kathryn mulled the name over. "It's lovely."

B'Elanna pulled back from her a bit. "There's something else…Kathryn…" She was encouraged when she got a supportive smile in return. "Tom and I have been talking, and … we'd like to ask you to choose a middle name for her."

The mug dropped back down, resting against the baby. "Really? You want me to choose a name?"

"Uh huh. You've become such a huge part of starting her life," the baby's mother pointed out, "that it only makes sense that you also help give her the name that she'll go through that life with."

The sentiment left Kathryn absolutely speechless, and beyond touched. Chakotay happened to catch her eye, and he flashed her a wink and a smile while she worked through it. She had already been feeling loved after what had happened the night before, but now the evening had moved into adored, something that she definitely was not used to receiving. She grasped B'Elanna's hand, and when she found her voice told her, "I'd be honoured."

"As long as you don't name her Harry," Tom added, breaking the tension as they all started to laugh. "One of them on this ship is more than enough."


	7. Chapter 7

Delara

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: It's been 11 years, but somehow Paramount (and now CBS, apparently) still owns them. Since they don't want to seem to do anything with them anymore, I'm taking the _Voyager_ crew out to play. But I promise to give them only cookies and milk, and to have them home by eleven.

Note: This story was heavily inspired by the story "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by Mindy.

* * *

The atmosphere on the bridge was lighthearted as Voyager entered orbit around Alkira, almost a week to the hour later. Teekra's beaming face was waiting for them, hailing them as soon as they entered the Alkirian system. "Captain Janeway! Here at last!"

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Mr. President," she smiled from her place standing in the middle of the bridge.

"For me as well. You'll be relocating here to see me soon, yes?"

She nodded. "If you're up to having some visitors."

He laughed that hearty, booming laugh again. "Captain, we are always delighted to welcome other travellers. I will meet you in the great hall." The screen flicked off, replaced by the blue-green earth-like planet that they were moving into orbit around.

"Let's keep this first meeting small," she said as she turned towards the aft stations. "Same as before – Chakotay, Tuvok, you're with me. Mr. Paris, you have the bridge." She whirled around before he could open his mouth about her safety. "And before you say it – don't."

Tom thought about denying it, but everyone knew that it would be a lie. So he just opted for, "Yes ma'am."

* * *

The away team appeared in the great hall about ten minutes later, and were stunned by its beauty. Its vaulted ceilings and grey-white stone structure reminded them of an ancient European cathedral, open and wide and filled with fresh air and brightness. The blocks of colour that had been on Teekra's ship were everywhere, in patterns that seemed complex and incredibly well thought out. Despite the fact that there was no sort of glass or transparent material in the windows, the room was warm and comfortable and filled with streams of sunlight. Each of the team spun around slowly to examine their new surroundings, appreciating it from their own unique viewpoint.

"Captain! Welcome to Alkira!" President Teekra appeared to climb up from a lower level onto their floor, arms once again stretched out wide to welcome her. "We are so happy to have you here."

She smiled warmly, remembering instantly why she had liked him when they met. "Thank you, sir. You remember my officers?"

"Yes, of course!" This time, rather than his traditional bow, Teekra took advantage of what he learned on Voyager and shook each man's hand. "Welcome Chakotay. Welcome Tuvok." He slowly spun around, his arms outstretched again, this time to indicate their surroundings. "So tell me, what do you think of the Great Hall?"

"It's magnificent," she told him, smiling broadly as she took the time to notice the pride he clearly felt at their accomplishment.

"It is more than a thousand generations old," the president happily explained, "built without mortar or machinery."

Chakotay couldn't help but notice that the president seemed to be dying to tell them more about Alkira, like a gossip that's not able to tell a secret. "Is the Great Hall the seat of your government, or used for ceremonial purposes?" he asked.

"Both, actually, Commander," the president replied. "There are government offices on the upper floors." He pointed toward rows of interior windows that overlooked the main courtyard. "But this large open area can hold more than one thousand citizens for high profile events such as weddings or graduation ceremonies from the global university." Turning back to the captain, he offered, "Please, allow me to give you a tour."

Janeway grinned at him. "Lead the way, Teekra."

* * *

The away team returned to the ship a few hours later, relaxed and confident that Alkira was indeed the friendly place that it appeared to be. "Chakotay, can you take care of the shore leave schedule?" she asked him as they stepped off the turbolift and onto the bridge.

"Yes, Captain." He grinned. "When would you like yours?"

She chuckled. "Surprise me."

"Captain," Harry interrupted. "There are some minor problems with the transporters. They still work properly, but the gaseous minerals that are in the air are limiting the distance that we can transport. Basically, we can only beam people down within half a hemisphere of our position."

"So what you're saying," she frowned, "is that transporters can only lock onto a quarter the planet at any given time?"

He nodded. "If we needed to pick somebody up on the other side of the planet, we wouldn't be able to do it until Voyager almost was right over them."

Kathryn shrugged as she sat in her chair. "Well, I guess we'll just have to work with it. Alkira has a global transit system that will make getting around easy for anybody who wants to." Punching a few buttons, she opened the intercom to the ship. "This is Captain Janeway. The president of Alkira has granted permission for us to take shore leave while we are here," she announced. "Commander Chakotay will be contacting all crew members with your scheduled time off. Please pass any questions through your department heads to him, and enjoy your vacations. Janeway out." She slouched against the back of her chair for a moment to rest. "I guess I'd better get going," she said aloud. "Lunch should be ready in about fifteen minutes."

"Think you'll be able to eat?" he asked her quietly, not wanting to discuss it broadly.

"I'm actually hungry for a change," she said with a smile. "And don't worry – I'm taking the Doctor with me just to be safe. I have to stop by Sickbay anyway – for some reason, my afternoon salaematin hypo didn't show up at my replicator this morning."

"Alright. We'll hold down the fort until you get back."

She patted his arm, then got up to leave. "You have the bridge."

* * *

The captain and the Doctor arrived at the entrance to Teekra's offices a short time later, where the president's assistant was waiting for them. "Welcome Captain Janeway," she greeted warmly. "Please, follow me."

She led them into one of the interior chambers, where a large table had been laden with a variety of foods and drink. "Kathryn!" Teekra appeared from a side door, carrying a drink in his hand.

"Hello again, Teekra." She indicated her companion. "I'd like you to introduce you to Voyager's Doctor, our chief medical officer."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," the hologram said, shaking the president's hand. "I've heard so much about you."

"Thank you. Thank you. I'm glad I finally get to meet you, Doctor. Come. Please sit down." Teekra led them to the seats he had arranged for them, pulling out Kathryn's chair for her and then pushing it in for her after she sat down in it. "My staff has prepared a number of local dishes for you to sample," he said as he dropped down into his own seat. "I did not know what you would like."

"You really didn't have to go to any trouble," Janeway told him as she examined all the food.

The president laughed. "It's no trouble at all. We only want to be sure that you are happy while you are here."

The Doctor pulled out his tricorder and began scanning the food. "A precaution, Mr. President," he explained. "I want to be sure that there isn't anything here that might be harmful to the captain or her baby." Kathryn bristled at the term 'her baby', but hid it away so as not to raise questions from anybody.

"I understand completely," Teekra told him, indicating for the Doctor to continue. "Our mothers have similar issues with some foods when they are pregnant."

"I want to thank you again for allowing my crew to take shore leave here," she said as she readjusted her position. "If the rest of Alkira is anything like the capital city, I think it will be very interesting for them."

"We look forward to welcoming them as well," the president said as he picked up a pitcher. Before starting to pour, he looked to the Doctor, who nodded his approval. "Alkirians are known throughout the Empire for their hospitality. We have a thriving tourist industry," he told them as he poured a glass of blue liquid for each. "Mestleberry juice," he said as he picked up his glass. "We have many farms that grow the fruit for it, but the true experience is in wild-grown berries."

Kathryn couldn't help but wish that it was coffee as she raised the glass to her lips and took a cautious sip. She was pleasantly surprised to find the juice was sweet and tart at the same time, with an aroma that reminded her of freshly cut grass. "Delicious!" the Doctor crowed before she could say anything, and she cringed inwardly at his over-the-top enthusiasm, especially considering that he couldn't actually taste anything.

Teekra, on the other hand, seemed to be quickly finding a kindred spirit in the hologram, one that appeared to enjoy the simple things in life as much as he did. "Then I shall make sure that you are provided with extra stores of mestleberries," he told them. "Juice, and a cask of wine from my personal stock for those special occasions."

"You're most kind, Mr. President," the doctor thanked him.

"Please – call me Teekra." Their host turned to the captain. "Kathryn, I would like to ask if you could help us with a problem."

"Of course."

He began to spoon food out onto a plate, which he then passed over to her. "We are having some issues with our orbiting platform. The guidance system failed because of a power outage, and while we've managed to rectify the situation, it left the platform in a much lower orbit." After putting more food on another plate, he handed it to the Doctor before dishing up his own meal. "I was hoping that, with Voyager's help, our engineering core might be able to tow it back to its proper altitude."

"After all the kindness you've show us, Teekra, we'd be glad to. I'll have Lieutenant Torres take a look at it as soon as I go back to the ship." Looking around her plate, she picked up a piece of what looked like boiled carrot and took a bite, only to find that it was more like licorice – chewy and hard to actually get a piece off of. The flavour was at least nice, but she was so hungry right now that it wouldn't have made much of a difference.

"Excellent. Thank you."

Teekra continued shovelling food in his mouth at a rate much faster than he had while in the mess hall. Kathryn figured that perhaps he had just been cautious when trying their food, and that this was his normal behaviour. She continued tasting all the different foods that had been put on her plate, and was finding that she actually liked everything. Her brain started grinding, trying to figure out just how she could convince Neelix to not pollute any of the foods they took from Alkira with leola root.

"After we returned home, I met with our top religious officials," the president continued to speak once his eating slowed down. "They tell me that you would be more than welcome to participate in a kaleenacht ceremony, Kathryn."

The Doctor's attention perked, wondering just what exactly she had agreed to do now. Despite what she had said the last time the subject came up, Kathryn instantly started to warm to the idea. "Would I have to do anything special to prepare?"

"Only the food for the offering. And since we can't feed the riskorri anything that has not been grown on Alkira, I would be happy to provide the offering from my own private gardens. You would just need to pick it yourselves."

"Excuse me," the Doctor broke in. "What exactly is a kaleenacht ceremony?"

The president gave him a brief explanation of the ceremony and what it meant, then looked at Janeway. "The mother-goddess has advised that we can approach the cheshal in the Kaleenacht Mountains in three days' time. Those who follow the ancient traditions make the journey on foot, but we will travel to the cheshal by transport. The paths are far too steep."

"These riskorri," the Doctor interrupted once again, his concern apparent, "are they dangerous?"

"Not at all. The riskorri are harmless creatures. They are apprehensive of us, and they do not even approach the offering until we stand well back from it." Teekra looked back at Kathryn again. "I think you will enjoy it. It truly is a remarkable ceremony."

She couldn't help but smile. "I'm looking forward to it."


	8. Chapter 8

Delara

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: It's been 11 years, but somehow Paramount (and now CBS, apparently) still owns them. Since they don't want to seem to do anything with them anymore, I'm taking the _Voyager_ crew out to play. But I promise to give them only cookies and milk, and to have them home by eleven.

Note: This story was heavily inspired by the story "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by Mindy.

* * *

As Teekra had said, three days later Janeway, Chakotay, Paris and Torres were flying in an Alkirian transport along with Teekra, his wife and his assistant. The unique design looked more like a tram carriage, with windows that stretched all the way around, providing magnificent views of the approaching mountains. There was very little in the way of foothills, and the shining tan stone of the Kaleenacht Mountains shot up from nearly flat ground to reach more than a couple of kilometres in height. Kathryn strained to see the cheshal, but only did when Chakotay pointed it out. The stone structure was a pinpoint, hard to find because the sun lit it up and blended it into the background of the mountain range.

In reality, the cheshal was larger than they ever could have thought necessary. It was a round stone platform that curled around the shape of the mountain, its area more than three times the size of Voyager's engineering section. The half that sat against the mountain was covered with a canopy made of stone, which gently curved over their heads and displayed the same sort of brightly coloured block patterns that they had found all over the planet. The other half of the platform was bathed in sunlight, and opened up to the wide and lush valley that spread out between the peaks below. And despite being at a high altitude, the temperature was just as comfortable as it had been in the capital.

Teekra helped his wife and his assistant down from the transport, then offered his hand to the captain. She took his offer of help with good grace, though there was no way Chakotay was going to miss the pointed look she gave him when no one else was looking. He internally shook his head, then waited for Tom and B'Elanna to step down, carrying the laden food tray between them. They then followed the president into the covered section of the platform.

There were about twenty other Alkirians there waiting for them, lined along the back wall and using the natural steps in the stone as risers to vertically stagger themselves. An ancient Alkirian woman stood in front of them, dressed in ceremonial robes and carrying a sceptre that was taller than she was, decorated with a shining silver orb on its top end. "Welcome, friends," she intoned in a deep voice, raising her arms out to them much as Teekra had when he had arrived on Voyager. "Please…approach…"

Teekra brought them in front of her. "Mother-goddess, these are the visitors which I spoke of. Kathryn Janeway, Chakotay, B'Elanna Torres and Tom Paris."

She bowed to each of them as Teekra gestured to them, leaning on her sceptre for support. "I am told that you are on a long journey."

"Yes we are," the captain replied. "To our home on the other side of the galaxy."

The mother-goddess studied her carefully, most noticeably staring at Kathryn's belly in surprise. "Teekra tells me that you've come here today to make an offering to the riskorri. Do you come here to honour the family of this child?"

"We do, mother-goddess." Kathryn looked to Tom and B'Elanna, a warm smile gracing her features. "We do."

The officiate was surprised again, now because Kathryn had answered instead of those that had accompanied her. She had to remind herself that they were off-worlders, and that they would have no idea of how the ceremony actually worked. Really, they were only here because Teekra wanted them to be. "Very well," she said. Raising her hands and the sceptre upward, she called out, "Begin the call!"

The singers around them started to sway, and those in the bottom row started a perfectly syncopated sound between the women and the men. It was a deep, booming and intimate sound, one that reminded Chakotay of Inuit throat singers. The ones that stood above them overlaid a melody, not using words but soft vowels that seemed to fit perfectly with the baser sound. Their song reverberated around the platform, seeming to float around each person before it fed out into the open mountain pass. After about twenty minutes, the chanters finished in one last burst of unison, their song echoing off the surrounding peaks for a good minute before it finally faded away into the breeze. The guests stood there in awe, wondering just what was going to happen next.

The mother-goddess stepped to the forefront again, her scepter held out so that the bulbed end was directed at Kathryn and Chakotay. "Now," she intoned, "it is time for this child's creators to place the offering." She got the shock of her life though when it was B'Elanna and Tom, not Kathryn and Chakotay, who started to step forward with the laden tray. "Stop!" They froze, not sure what to do. "This is for the child's creators," she reiterated, wondering if they hadn't understood her somehow.

Kathryn looked from the mother-goddess to the young couple and back again. "Mother-goddess, these are this child's creators."

The mother-goddess looked from her to B'Elanna and Tom, then back to Kathryn again, so much in shock that she wasn't able to speak. It was finally President Teekra that ventured, "I'm afraid we don't understand, Captain."

Kathryn looked to Chakotay, who didn't quite know what to make of it either. They were both surprised when it was B'Elanna, who had been very quiet throughout this whole process, that stepped forward. "Mother-goddess, my husband and I are this baby's parents. But because of an accident four months ago, I was not able to continue carrying her. This woman – my friend – she was able to step in for me, and continue to carry my child when I couldn't." She looked directly at Kathryn, an appreciation in her eyes that belied words. "If it hadn't been for her, our child would have died before she was even born."

The president stood dumbfounded, his usual boisterousness very subdued. He looked to Kathryn. "This is true, Kathryn?"

She slowly nodded, a knot forming in her stomach. "It is."

Every Alkirian there listened in amazement. "We have never heard of anything like this," Teekra said in astonishment.

Hidden from the others, Chakotay rested a hand on Kathryn's back, sensing the nerves that were building in her. "You don't have women who carry babies for others who can't?" he asked.

"We have many different types of technology, Commander Chakotay," the president answered. "But that is one technology that we do not possess." He started to smile again as the concept started to grow on him. "There is much we can learn from your people as well."

The mother-goddess stepped up beside the president. "Very well then. B'Elanna Torres, Tom Paris…move forward, and place the offering." She gracefully swung the scepter toward the altar.

Carrying the ornate tray in front of them, Tom and B'Elanna stepped out from the protective awning and into the bright area that formed the altar, blinking as their eyes adjusted to the sunshine that was magnified off the peaks around them. The offering stone was a large, worn piece of what looked like opal-coloured quartz, with veins of gold, silver and rose running through it. Its scratched and marred surface was deceptively smooth, the sharp edge of each fault having been worn away by wind and rain. Together they carefully placed the tray down in the centre of it, grasping each other's hand as they took a step back.

A distant, musical cry filled the skies above them, and they looked up to see a group of tiny white dots rising over the mountain peaks on the other side of the chasm. In a matter of minutes they were distinguishable creatures racing toward them, bobbing and dancing in the wind as they approached. Tom pulled B'Elanna back under the stone awning as they got closer, neither of them able to take their eyes off the riskorri as they approached.

The visitors stood in amazement as the group of ethereal white creatures stopped to hover above the offering stone. To Tom they looked like a sort of white Chinese dragon, complete with scales and long spines that ran down the centre of their backs, and wings that sat over their front shoulders. There were about a dozen riskorri of different sizes, who wove between and wrapped around each other like eels as they inspected the food that had been brought for them. Eventually they decided that it was safe, and one by one silently landed on the stone and started to cautiously pick at it.

A baby version of the larger riskorri broke off from the elders and floated over toward the people who were watching them. Rather than dim once it flew in under the awning, the creature took on a soft glow that seemed to keep it looking just the same as it had in the sunshine. It moved from Alkirian to Alkirian, hovering in front of each for a moment like a hummingbird. Then it moved on to the humans, investigating B'Elanna, Tom and Chakotay for a little bit longer before it turned its attention on Kathryn. Making little clicks and noises as it moved, it seemed to examine her more closely than anyone else, floating down to about her knees and then back up parallel to her eyes.

Chakotay rested his other hand on her shoulder, just in case he would need to pull her out of harm's way if something happened. He looked down at Kathryn, seeing an intrigued interest similar to when they had discovered the simian that kept visiting them on New Earth. And true to form, she tentatively reached a hand out toward it. The riskorri bounced back a bit, but only for a breath or two before realizing that she was not going to hurt it. It sniffed at her fingers with its ringed snout, ears twitching as it gathered information. Again it backed off a bit when she opened her hand and rolled the palm upward, and again it only took a moment before it was now investigating her palm. To everyone's astonishment, the little creature landed in her hand, its clawed feet deceptively soft like a cat's paws.

Her heart was beating wildly in her chest, and it took a great amount of control to keep her hand from shaking so she wouldn't scare the young riskorri. It reminded her of a puppy as it started to sniff around its feet, the tip of its scaly tail brushing back and forth behind it. As it continued to investigate, it started to walk up her arm, which she had braced by resting her elbow on top of the baby. Stepping off her forearm, it moved to stand on top of her belly and peered at her, head rolling like a bird from side to side as it examined her. Then it tentatively rose on its hind legs, and placed its front feet on her chest in order to sniff around her face. Between its whiskers and its stony breathing on her skin, Kathryn was doing everything possible from letting her ticklish side get the better of her, but did start to laugh just the tiniest bit. The riskorri shifted over to sniff at Chakotay's hand and then, satisfied for the moment, the small creature moved back, shook its entire body out, and settled down on its back haunches as it decided to stop for a bit.

With her other hand, Kathryn reached up and put a finger in front of the riskorri, who sniffed it briefly before looking back at her again. So with the utmost care, she tried to touch the top of its head. Instead of bolting like she thought it would, the little creature pressed its head up against it, its eyes closing as it started to emit a sound similar to purring. So she continued to run her finger along its back, surprised when she discovered that the scales felt like feathers, and the spines on its back folded down flat. "Incredible…" she breathed as she continued to pet it, brushing over its flicking ears.

Chakotay couldn't believe what he was seeing; the spiritual creature that symbolized the culture of this planet, and the skeptical scientist that had undergone more changes in the last sixteen weeks than some did in a lifetime. He felt he was at the centre of something incredibly special. _Just another day in the Delta Quadrant_, he thought to himself as he slowly lifted his hand and offered it to the riskorri. The little creature eyed him carefully, and though it didn't show him the same interest that it showed Kathryn, allowed him to pet it as well.

Everyone was so entranced by what was happening with the baby riskorri that the adults had managed to clear away every bit of the food offering without anybody noticing. They were ready to leave, but realized that their youngster had wandered off. One of the adults let out a series of melodic yelps to call to the runaway, whose head snapped around to see where it was coming from. It looked back to Kathryn, its ears fluttering as it rose up onto all four feet again, but didn't move. The adult made the same call again, but the little one was completely trained on the visitor. She couldn't help but grin. "Go on," she whispered to it. "They're waiting for you." The riskorri cocked its head at her one more time, then in a flutter of wings jumped off her and headed back with the adults. Together the group headed off into the sky, flying in between the various peaks until they disappeared from sight.

There was silence for a long while, until Teekra finally said, "You are an honoured individual, Kathryn Janeway."

* * *

Captain Janeway returned to her quarters at the end of another long day, yawning heavily once she got inside. The first thing she did was to get out of her uniform, which seemed to get more uncomfortable every time she wore it. Everything was becoming more uncomfortable, though she didn't want to admit that it was mostly the changes in her body that were doing it, and not how her uniform fit. She traded it for a pair of pale blue pajama pants and a white thin-strapped tank top, which quickly warmed up as soon as she put them on. As she moved back to the living area, she took the opportunity to stretch her bare feet out, toes grasping at the carpet fibres and getting some breathing room again. Using the walk to the replicator, she swung her arms around and stretched out as much as she could. Then with hot water and lemon in hand, settled in behind her desk and activated the computer screen.

The door chime rang about half an hour later. "Come in." She had a feeling that Chakotay would be on the other side, and she was right. He stepped inside and let the doors close behind him, then found her sitting at her desk. "I'm only checking today's logs," she told him before he could say something. "I'm not working."

He shook his head. "I wasn't going to suggest it."

She looked up at him, seeing he was still in uniform. "Everything alright on your end?"

"Pretty uneventful," he reported as he settled into the chair opposite her. "The mining crews are about halfway to filling our stores, thanks to the Alkirian crews that are helping them. Neelix has stored all the long-term foodstuffs he can, and he says he's now just waiting for a day or two before we leave in order to bring the fresh foods up. He also thinks that there are a number of different plants that we might be able to actually grow ourselves in the hydroponics bay." He scratched at the spot where the she had healed the gash in his head after the explosion. "Shore leave rotations seem to be going smoothly, and no incidents of any sort down on the surface," he added with a smile. "As a matter of fact, there have been a number of different recommendations flying around from one person to the other as everyone visits different spots around Alkira."

Kathryn chuckled as she shut off her screen. "They must be pretty good then, if they're telling their friends to go there." She thought for a moment as she took a sip from her mug. "Do you think there would be any objections if we extended our stay for an extra week?"

"I doubt it. I know I certainly wouldn't complain."

She shot him a funny look. "You never complain anyway."

Leaning forward on the desk, Chakotay decided to stir up a bit of trouble. "Not when you're around..."

"Well that's good to know." Kathryn smiled and leaned back in her chair, her eyes closing as she rested her head against the back. "I probably wouldn't like what you'd have to say anyway." She heard him get up, and opened her eyes when she couldn't hear him moving anymore. He was standing beside her, extending a hand to help her up. "What?"

"If we sit at the desk, we talk shop," he explained. "If we sit on the couch, we can relax."

Unable to argue with his logic, or with the charming smile that he added just to make it additionally unfair, she gave in and let him help her. While she made her way over to the couch, he grabbed the small footrest that he had managed to find somewhere a while ago and brought it over so she could put her feet up. He waited until she was all settled in, then put on his most serious face when he said, "By the way, Harry needs to see you on the bridge. He said something about a strange reading from the western continent."

As was her nature, her first reaction was to be jumping up and heading out the door. She was already leaning forward to get up when she saw the barely restrained mischief on his face. "Dammit, Chakotay!" He started laughing, picking up her forgotten drink. "You've been spending too much time with Paris," she accused. "Do you have any idea how long it takes me to get comfortable now?" Thinking that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to be digging himself in any further, he didn't say anything, but sat down beside her and waited until she finished fussing. When she finally stopped rearranging cushions and had her feet up again, he wordlessly handed the mug over to her. "This stuff is going to be the death of me," she grumbled as she took it from him.

"Well look at it this way. Only a few more weeks, and you'll be able to switch back to coffee again." He was surprised when she suddenly went quiet. "What?"

She rubbed her hand over the baby, who was mostly quiet at the moment. "I just didn't realize that this is almost over," she told him wistfully. "It's funny, you know. At first I didn't want to do this at all, then I'm miserable for the first couple of months. And now that I'm finally used to it, it will all be over before I've even had a chance to really enjoy it."

He held his arm out to her, inviting her to lean in against him. "Do you think you might ever do it again?"

"I don't know." She settled herself against him, resting her head against his shoulder. "Maybe. I mean, I always thought I would, but…"

"But what?" he asked as he rubbed a comforting hand over her shoulder.

She sighed. "I think maybe I'm too old to start a family now."

"You're only forty-four," he pointed out. "You've probably got another eight, ten years where you could still get pregnant if you wanted to." He could tell that she was still not convinced, so he tightened his grip on her a little bit, and kissed her hair. "Tell you what. How about we finish this one first before we even start talking about that sort of thing?"

Kathryn giggled just a bit as she looked up at his face. "That's a good idea. And who knows – maybe next time, B'Elanna can do all the carrying."

"Maybe." Feeling brave, Chakotay leaned down and kissed her.

Unlike the previous night when it was a gesture of comfort, now it was laced with love, promise and desire. She rose up to meet him, more than interested in what he had to offer. They were hungry for each other, and every other consideration fell away as they started to let go of previous inhibitions. He pulled her tightly against him as he continued to kiss her with long, deep kisses, then started to work his way down her neck. Her head fell back to give him access, and she moaned with delight when he reached the notch at the bottom of her throat. Everything seemed to be moving so fast now, and she didn't care. The impulse to hold him at bay was long gone, and all she wanted was to have him here now, doing exactly what he was doing.

Chakotay reached behind her and released the clip that she had tied her hair back with earlier that day, getting another groan of pleasure at the tingling that ran across her scalp when he ran his fingers through it. He closed his eyes when she reached up to hold his face in her hands, letting out his own moan as she ran her fingertips over his eyes and down his cheeks. He started to kiss them when she rested them over his lips, taking the tip of one into his mouth and giving it a gentle nip before letting it go. She moved in on him now, kissing him with bravado that had only been reserved for a few in her life. But she found herself in an awkward position, and her body started to shake as the muscles reached their tipping point. When she settled down onto the cushions he went with her, pressing her back into the pillows that she had been piled up against before. He was careful to not to put his weight down against her, bracing his hand against the arm of the couch to hold himself up as he lost himself in the glee of finally, actually being able to do this.

They stopped abruptly when Delara let out a huge kick, again hard enough for Chakotay to feel it against his stomach. Both panting for air, they started to laugh as they looked down at her belly, which seemed to actually be moving under the fabric of her pajama shirt. "I think this kid has it in for me," he commented as he ran a hand over her.

Kathryn thought back to all those times when they would be deep in personal conversation, or when they would be pushing the envelope of their relationship ever so slightly, when someone would call, or there would be some emergency that robbed them of any intimacy. "Well why should she be different than any other member of our crew?" His grin told her he knew exactly what she was talking about, and he looked up when she again took his face into her hands. She sighed contentedly as she looked into his eyes. "Maybe in this instance, she's right."

"Maybe." To be honest, he wasn't sure about how he felt about making love to her while she was pregnant with someone else's child. He wanted to be able to hold her and be close to her and to not have to worry about any special considerations that they might need right now. And like that first day in Sickbay when he fantasized that the small bump she'd been showing was his doing, he wanted this experience to be with his own child. He sat up and took her hands to pull her up beside him, then gave her a gentle kiss as he brushed her hair back from her face. "Rain check?" She nodded, and then settled in against him again when he sat back and kicked his feet up on the foot rest. "Some day, huh?"

"Yeah." She absently ran her hand over the baby, who was still kicking away. "I'd like to have more like it."

Chakotay thought back to the kaleenacht ceremony, and the shock that they had inadvertently given their hosts. "I can't believe that they don't have the same sort of reproductive technology that we do," he commented. "They seem to be on par with us in just about every other area."

"Me either." She started to chuckle again. "For a second there, I thought that the mother-goddess was going to throw us out."

"She wouldn't do that to a cute pregnant lady," he said as he stroked her hair a little.

Kathryn snorted derisively. "A cute pregnant lady with a perch large enough for a riskorri to land on." Her mind wandered back to the little creature that took such a great interest in her, and it brought her the kind of happiness that Molly used to. "That was the most amazing thing I think I've ever seen," she said. "He was just beautiful."

"I kind of wish we had a picture of it," he said.

"So do I."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a while. Eventually he asked, "So what's on the agenda for tomorrow?"

"Another meeting with Teekra," she told him through a large yawn. "He wants to show me more of their infrastructure and about the Flamengar Empire. I'm hoping I can get those star charts so that we can have a chance to look them over thoroughly before we leave." Letting out another yawn and scratching at the back of her head, she confirmed, "You have bridge duty tomorrow, right?"

"Mmm hmm. It's Harry's day off tomorrow." Her yawns were contagious, and he found before long that his eyelids were starting to droop. "I think all that fresh air is catching up with me. I can't keep my eyes open."

Kathryn sat forward so he could get up, and then took his help in standing up, clutching his elbow as they crossed the room. "I'll check in with you tomorrow before I head down," she said. "I should probably make an appearance on my own bridge more than once this week."

He chuckled, his memory flitting back to their time in the void when they didn't see her for days. She had never done that again, and had made something of an effort to show herself around the ship more after that. It wasn't as social as she had been when they first started out, but it had been an improvement. "Are you taking anybody down with you?"

She shook her head. "No, I'll be alright. Teekra seems pretty protective of me, but even then, I don't think there's anything to worry about."

They stopped at the door. "Well I'll let you get some sleep," he said softly, stroking her cheek once again. "I'll see you tomorrow." He leaned down and kissed her. "Goodnight Kathryn."

"Goodnight Chakotay."


	9. Chapter 9

Delara

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: It's been 11 years, but somehow Paramount (and now CBS, apparently) still owns them. Since they don't want to seem to do anything with them anymore, I'm taking the _Voyager_ crew out to play. But I promise to give them only cookies and milk, and to have them home by eleven.

Note: This story was heavily inspired by the story "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by Mindy.

* * *

"Absolutely not!"

The captain, first officer, engineer and pilot were assembled in Sickbay, where the Doctor had just finished Janeway's weekly checkup. Chakotay helped her swing her legs down over the side of the bed, while Tom and B'Elanna watched the hologram pacing melodramatically around the medical bay. "Why not?" Torres asked.

The physician scowled at her. "Your baby is due in three weeks, and you think that letting your surrogate go gallivanting around on an alien world is a good idea?"

"Doctor…" Janeway warned.

But there was no derailing him on this point. "Captain, why do you insist on putting yourself in these dangerous situations?"

"But you said that there was zero chance of her going into labour before next week," Tom pointed out.

"And it's hardly a dangerous place," Chakotay added.

"I said _almost_ no chance, Mr. Paris. A Klingon-human hybrid normally gestates ten months, but with everything that this baby has been through, who knows what could happen."

The captain was glowering, more than unhappy with his opposition. "Look – it comes down to this, Doctor," she cut him off. "If I don't get to take my own shore leave while we're here, somebody is going to end up scrubbing the plasma manifolds with a toothbrush." She shot him a menacing look. "And I can have holoemitters installed in there just as easy as anywhere else."

The Doctor's exasperation was chided a bit. He was never a hundred percent sure which threats she would actually carry out. "Captain, I'm only worried about your safety," he defended.

"And I appreciate that, Doctor. But you've been there. We're not talking about going out into the middle of nowhere on a hostile world."

"And she won't be alone," Tom added. "Chakotay is going to go with her."

"Oh really?" the Doctor scoffed. "I don't remember the commander having a medical license."

B'Elanna's temper was starting to flare. "Enough. Doctor, Tom and I talked it over, and we don't have a problem with it. Right now Delara's in the best hands she could possibly be in. And some down time for the captain will only make it better for both of them."

The hologram looked from one person to the next. "Very well," he finally gave in. "But I insist you take a medical kit and an additional communicator with you."

"Understood," the captain acknowledged as Chakotay helped her down off the bed. The four of them headed out into the corridor, where Kathryn let out a sigh that had been holding her irritation back. "Thanks, B'Elanna."

"You're welcome." The group headed towards the nearest turbolift. "Do you know where you two are going?"

"President Teekra offered us the use of either his mountain lodge or a place that's down by the equatorial desert," her surrogate told her. "But we haven't decided which one yet."

They stopped at the lift, where B'Elanna would need to board to go back to Engineering. "Well, I'd better get back to work. We're ready to help relocate the orbital platform. Have a great time, you two." She then bent down to talk to the baby. "And you be a good girl and stay in there until Captain Janeway's back on the ship." The lift doors opened and she disappeared, with another lift arriving a few seconds later.

The three of them rode up to the bridge together. "Well I'll say one thing for the Doc – he's certainly protective of you," Tom commented.

"Yes he is." Kathryn shook her head. "I wonder if B'Elanna could adjust his subroutines so he'd be a little less so."

"But then who would nag you about your physicals and your eating habits?" Chakotay wondered.

Tom smirked. "I thought that was your job."

Kathryn knew that it was meant as a joke, but she could see it made the first officer uneasy. "It is, and he's very good at it," she said. "I just don't listen to him most of the time."

The lift doors opened and Tom was the first out, suddenly grateful to put some distance between him and the command team. Tuvok rose from the captain's chair when his superiors stepped out on the bridge. "Captain. Commander."

"Report, Mr. Tuvok."

"All has been quiet," he told her. "There are currently fifty-four crew members on the planet's surface, including Mr. Kim. The mining details are at 75% completion, and President Teekra has transmitted the star charts that you agreed upon yesterday. The scans you ordered have also been completed, finding nothing of any consequence."

"Good. What's going on with the orbital platform?"

The security chief clasped his hands together behind his back. "After you and the commander have transported to the surface, Voyager will assist the Alkirian crews with the second phase of the orbital relocation. Its rapid orbit will put us on the opposite side of the planet from your position for approximately two thirds of your leave."

"How long will it take to complete?" Chakotay asked.

"Three days, Commander."

The captain nodded. "While we're gone, I want you and Tom to start reviewing those star charts so that we have some idea of what's coming up along our flight path." She took a look around the bridge, as if trying to memorize it so she'd remember where everything was when she got back. Stopping at Chakotay, she asked, "Ready?"

She could see that he was more than ready, but he only opted for a, "Yes captain."

"Very well. Commander Tuvok, you have the bridge," she ordered as she faced her second officer again. "Contact us if anything comes up."

The Vulcan nodded solemnly. "Enjoy your shore leave, Captain, Commander." He sat back down in the chair as the command team left. "Lieutenant Paris, plot our course to rendezvous with the orbital station and engage as soon as the captain and commander arrive on the surface."

"Yes sir."

In the turbolift on the way down to their quarters, Kathryn looked to her companion expectantly. "So Chakotay, what's your pleasure? Mountain lodge, or desert hideaway?" He was a million miles away though, and didn't answer her. "Chakotay?"

Hearing his name this time, he looked down to see the concern on her face. "Sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked you where you wanted to go for our leave." She searched his eyes. "What's wrong?"

He debated whether he wanted to say anything or not. But he figured if he couldn't tell her his feelings, they were going to be doomed. "Just what Tom said," he told her quietly, "rubbed me the wrong way." He looked down when he felt her hand on his arm. "Kathryn, does it bother you when I hound you about your health?"

She could see that it was really troubling him. "Only when I'm already cranky," she told him, giving him a supportive smile when he looked up at her again. "Chakotay, I don't think it's your job to look after me. And you know as well as I do how I feel about being coddled. But I know you only have my best interests at heart. I could have ended up on this trip with somebody who didn't give a damn about anybody but himself. But instead, I was incredibly lucky to find a man who doesn't just care about what happens to him, but what happens to his crew, and to the woman that he could have very well hated or overthrew for stranding him in this quadrant."

He thought about her answer for a while, and reviewed his behaviour in the past. Feeling the lift slowing as they approached the deck with their living quarters, he asked her, "Promise me that you'll tell me if I overstep my bounds, Kathryn. I don't want you angry at me."

"I promise."

The lift stopped and the doors opened, letting them start the short walk to their individual quarters. She stopped when she suddenly heard him say, "Mountains."

"What?"

"Let's go to the mountain lodge." He pressed the button that would open the door to his quarters. "It'll be fun."

* * *

They materialized a few metres away from Teekra's mountain lodge, which was a tall white tent that had been erected over a large wooden platform set amongst a grove of trees. Huge, multi-coloured leaves were starting to drop to the ground, sure signs that autumn had hit this region. The air was fresh and sweet, on the cool side of comfortable, and dried leaves crunched under their feet as the two of them slowly spun to examine their new surroundings.

"Kathryn, look."

He was looking away from the tent, where the forest opened up to a magnificent view of mountains similar to those they had been in for the kaleenacht. Here they were snow-capped, brilliant white against the beige-grey stone below. They could hear the distant calls of riskorri, instantly bringing a smile to their faces. She wrapped her arm around his elbow, moving close to him and resting her cheek against the insulated sleeve of his civilian jacket as they gazed out over the Alkirian landscape. "It's beautiful…" she breathed, her smile inerasable.

Chakotay drew a deep breath, tasting the air and feeling it bracing him. They had spent so much time in space that he had forgotten what it was like to be planetside without having to be meeting, negotiating, or fighting for his life. They stood there together in silence for a while, just taking in the view, enjoying the weather, and being comfortable together without anybody else around. He started to get a little chilly, and figured that she most likely was too. "So, what do you say we go check out our new home?"

"Sure." A little reluctantly, she turned away from the view to walk with him back up the shallow slope to the tent house. When they were within a few steps of the stairs that would lead them up the platform, he surprised her by grabbing her up into his arms and carrying her up the stairs. "What are you doing?" she laughed.

"My job." He stopped at the top of the stairs, grinning from ear to ear while he tried to catch his breath. "I think I need to work out more."

She ruffled his hair. "Don't be too hard on yourself. It's hard to run up stairs carrying a beached whale."

"Now you stop that, Kathryn Janeway." He took the opportunity to sneak a kiss. "You aren't beached." He tried to duck when she took a light swing at him, using the opportunity to steal another peck. "Come on." Readjusting her in his arms, he carried her feet first through the tent's entrance.

The interior was deceptively well decorated, looking more like a house than the inside of a fabric structure. The wooden platform had been covered with a series of ornate floorboards and decorated with rugs filled with the colour blocks they had become so accustomed to seeing. Lighting seemed to be hidden within the colourful folds of fabric that had been strung just below the tent's peak to create a false ceiling. Though it was mostly one large room, with the exception of the bathroom, the furniture specifically drew out the living and sleeping areas. A small couch and chairs were settled around a large stone fireplace, and the bed was larger than two of her beds on Voyager combined.

Chakotay carefully dropped her down onto her feet, and she started to wander the room. "This is not at all what I was expecting from the outside," she said, running her fingertips along the surface of a small table beside her.

He had gone the other way, and was now standing across the room from her. "Well it's no Starfleet-issue housing, but it will have to do."

She laughed as she continued to look around. "It's warm too. The tent must have some sort of heat generating quality." As she made her way over to the bed, she noticed that a good sized window had been built into the tent walls on either side of it. "It's an amazing design. Apparently being the president of Alkira has its benefits."

Something occurred to him that he'd forgotten about. "Kathryn, what was Tuvok scanning for before we left?"

"Oh, just the presidential residences that Teekra offered," she told him as she walked back over to him. "I figured it was probably safe, considering how things have gone so far. But with the two of us alone and Voyager on the other side of the planet, I just wanted to make sure everything was okay."

He smiled as he took her into his arms. "You've thought of everything."

She wrapped her hands around his back. "Well, you take care of me – I take care of you. It's a packaged deal."

"Fair enough." He gave her a solid kiss, finally feeling free to just do what he wanted rather than worrying about what might interrupt them. "So, Miss Janeway, what do you want to do first?"

"Eat," she said, which was the last answer he had expected. Kathryn laughed when she saw the look on his face. "Don't look so surprised. I do eat sometimes, you know."

He chuckled, tucking her hair back behind her ear. "Don't ever stop surprising me, Kathryn."


	10. Chapter 10

Delara

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: It's been 11 years, but somehow Paramount (and now CBS, apparently) still owns them. Since they don't want to seem to do anything with them anymore, I'm taking the _Voyager_ crew out to play. But I promise to give them only cookies and milk, and to have them home by eleven.

Note: This story was heavily inspired by the story "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by Mindy.

* * *

As it turned out, the sun went down only about an hour after they arrived, so after dinner they spent the night in, talking and laughing until they couldn't keep their eyes open anymore. They curled up together in the large bed, Kathryn again laughing when Chakotay mentioned that it was going to be hard to get used to having someone else there after sleeping alone for so long. But after finding a comfortable way to fit together they easily drifted off, and had the best sleep they'd had for a long while.

The next morning they awoke to the sound of birdsong as the sun rose, each admiring the spectacular view through the windows from the comfort of being under the blankets. Kathryn sighed when she felt him slip an arm around her from behind, her eyes sliding closed again as he kissed the back of her shoulder. "Morning," she murmured as she laced her fingers with his.

"Morning." He pulled her a little closer, nuzzling at her neck. "How'd you sleep?"

She smiled. "Like the dead." For the first time in weeks, Kathryn felt full of energy. "Must be all the fresh air," she told him as she rolled over to give him a kiss. "I feel great."

He chuckled. "Really? Because you look like hell."

She gave him a gentle shove in the shoulder. "You try sleeping next to a furnace and see how you look."

"I did. And I think I look pretty damned good in spite of it."

Deciding that it was her turn to play, Kathryn reached up and messed his hair, leaving it sticking out in all directions. "Nobody gets to look better than me in the morning, mister," she warned.

"Really?" Chakotay went to lift his hand to her face and brushed her side, pulling back when she suddenly flinched. "What?"

"Nothing," was her hurried answer.

He thought about it for a moment. She wasn't in pain, and it suddenly struck him. "Kathryn, are you ticklish?"

"No!" As soon as the word came out of her mouth, Kathryn realized that she'd given her answer too quickly and was busted.

He grinned, a devilish look in his eyes. "Yes you are." And to prove his point, he went back and tried again, laughing when she squirmed underneath him.

"Stop it!" she gasped between fits of laughter. "Chakotay stop it!"

"Oh alright." He pulled back, letting her catch her breath. "Want some breakfast?"

* * *

After showers and breakfast, they decided that they wanted to explore their new surroundings. Or more accurately, she told him she wanted to go exploring and bugged him until he relented – he'd have preferred to stay in bed with her. They found a number of well-worn dirt paths through the forest, which made it easy to move at a leisurely pace. They talked about anything and everything as they walked, touching on subjects that they hadn't really spoken about since their first year together on Voyager. And as the day wore on, both of them started to truly relax. Without any ship's business to worry about, and no crisis to be solved, it was easy to slip into thoughts of this being their true life, and the rest of it being a constant dream.

The path they were on took them into one of the upper elevations, where a few centimetres of snow had blanketed the ground of an open clearing. Kathryn grinned with delight, memories of childhood in Indiana flooding back to her. She and her sister would play in the snow for hours, one of the few times growing up that the young girl voluntarily spent any time outdoors. Her breath plumed out in front of her, and it was crisp in her lungs as she took a few steps into the snow, loving how it crunched under her boots. They were surrounded by snow-capped mountains, the treeline stretching no more than a kilometre above them. "I never thought I'd see another planet that's so close to Earth," she marvelled as she took in the view.

Chakotay kept walking past her, wanting to investigate a large flowering bush that was growing in the middle of the snow. It had a fragrant scent that reminded him of oranges, but the blooms were an emerald green and the leaves almost black in colour. He pulled the tricorder out of his pocket, and was just about to call her over when something cold hit him in the back of the head. Whirling around, he found his friend standing where she had been before, caught red handed as she was forming another snowball with her mittens. "Oh, you want to do that, do you?" he challenged, reaching down for his own ammunition.

Kathryn tried to flee, but only managed to get about three steps before he hit her squarely in the back. She turned around to protest, and caught another one in the chest that exploded up into her face. Sputtering, she told him, "That's a low blow, Chakotay – hitting a pregnant woman with a snowball."

"That's only because she started it, and she can't run away from me." His grin was lecherous as he started to stalk toward her, a handful of loose snow at the ready.

"Don't you dare!" she warned, backing away from him. He continued toward her, and she started laughing again. "Chakotay!" He picked up the pace, causing her to turn and try to run. But he was right, and she only got a couple of steps in before he captured her from behind, wrapping his arms around her just above the baby and whirling them around until they fell to the ground with a soft thump. Deciding to exact a little revenge, she scooped up some more snow and turned on him surprisingly quickly, but not fast enough that he couldn't grab her wrist before she could dump it on him. "You dirty…" He laughed, pulling her to him and kissing her hard to try and diffuse her. She pulled back with her own menacing look. "You don't fight fair."

"Never claimed to." He rolled her onto her back, now trying a little revenge of his own. Her hand-to-hand combat training meant she caught him in the same wrist lock he had used, making sure that his handful of snow never got closer to her than the length of her arm. "Now who's not fighting fair?" He saw her get a peculiar look on her face, and in one swift motion she unlocked her elbow and brought him down to her so she could kiss him again. Her arms wrapped up around his neck, and while he was completely distracted, she shoved a handful of snow down the back of his jacket. "Hey!"

She was laughing when he sat up, trying to grab the snow by reaching down his back. "I have to fight dirty," she told him as she took off her mittens and helped scoop out of the back of his jacket. "My mobility is restricted."

He shook the last of the snow out of his collar and fixed her with a look. "Really?" Before she knew it he was on her again, covering her with kisses and acting like a teenager. Her laughter was unbridled, loud and soulful as it echoed once or twice around them. After a little while he pulled back, taking a moment just to look at her. Her cheeks and her nose were red, eyes sparkling and hair spotted with bits of snow as it tumbled out over the ground. Running the backs of his fingers along her cheek, he whispered, "Did I ever tell you how beautiful I think you are?"

"Once or twice." She linked her hands behind his neck and pulled him down for another kiss. "But I'm not going to say no if you do it again."

He chuckled. "Is that a promise?"

Kathryn noticed the levity that was him now – a side of him that she had never seen before. They'd exchanged more than their share of innuendo over the years, but the structure of command and the need to appear professional had always hemmed their true personalities in. She was feeling it too. Years of living behind the captain's mask had trained her not to let her emotions go, and not to act on them either. But here, completely alone, they were free to act how they pleased. "Oh yes," she told him softly, fingers playing at the curve of his ear. "It's an iron-clad promise."

Looking down on her again, he really couldn't believe his luck. He could die a happy man now, knowing that she was just as attached to him as he was to her. It was the last piece of his life falling into place. After a few more kisses he asked her, "Are you hungry?"

"Starving."

He pushed himself back on his knees and got up, then took both her hands in his and pulled her upright. "How do you feel about some vegetable stew and rolls?"

She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him close. "As long as I don't have to cook it, it sounds perfect."

Delara gave her another huge kick, but since she was head down at this point, her feet pushed up into Kathryn's already compressed diaphragm and knocked the wind out of her. She started to cough hard as she tried to get some air back into her lungs. "What's wrong?" he questioned, his alarm jumping. "Kathryn?" She waved him off as the coughing started to slow, and her breathing started to return to normal. He was still holding onto her arm, which she then used for leverage when she was ready to stand up again. "What happened?"

"The baby just kicked me," she told him when she was able to, "right in the diaphragm." She coughed again a couple of times.

"Do you want me to call the ship?" he asked her.

"No. I'm okay." It took a few minutes, but eventually she was able to breathe more or less normally again. "It was easier when she was smaller, but she's running out of room now."

Chakotay looked her up and down. "If you're sure…" She gave him a quick nod that she was. "Okay. Come on – let's get back to the lodge so we can eat."

* * *

In the excitement of their day's exploration, their walk had taken them about three hours away from the tented lodge. As they walked hand-in-hand back along the paths it was starting to grow dark, and eventually the forest they were travelling through was lit only by Alkira's twin moons, which were both full. It cast a romantic glow over everything, making the frost on the trees and the ground shimmer and sparkle around them. "Naomi told me the other day that she thinks I should turn Cargo Bay Four into a daycare centre," she was telling him as they started the uphill climb that would take up the last hour of their hike. "And she wants to run it."

"She's going to be running the ship before you know it," he laughed. "What did you say?"

"I asked her how she was going to be captain and run a daycare at the same time. And you know what she told me?"

"No."

She laughed. "She said that when she had to be on the bridge, all of the 'old grandmas and grandpas' could take turns watching the kids for her."

He started laughing. "She's a born leader, that girl." After a moment he added, "We'd better be nice to her and Delara, or else we're going to be stuck on babysitting detail for the rest of our lives." He was suddenly pulled backward, and turned to find that she had stopped in her tracks. "Kathryn?"

"I don't know…" she said, her free hand clutching at the baby as she tried to figure out what was going on. There weren't any contractions that she could feel, but the pressure at the top of her birth canal was unmistakable. "I – I think she's coming…" she gasped, eyes wide with terror. "I don't know how, but she's coming!"

"What?" He looked down below her belly, but didn't see any sort of fluids. "Are you sure?"

Her breathing started to get heavy, and she grabbed hard onto his arm as the urge to push took her over. "Oh my god…"


	11. Chapter 11

Delara

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: It's been 11 years, but somehow Paramount (and now CBS, apparently) still owns them. Since they don't want to seem to do anything with them anymore, I'm taking the _Voyager_ crew out to play. But I promise to give them only cookies and milk, and to have them home by eleven.

Note: This story was heavily inspired by the story "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by Mindy.

* * *

With shaking hands, he pulled the zipper down on his jacket and reached into the inner pocket where he'd stored his communicator. "Chakotay to Voyager." There was no answer. "Chakotay to Voyager!"

"_Voyager here, Commander,"_ Tuvok's voice finally came back.

"Tuvok, I need an emergency transport to Sickbay," he ordered, trying to hold her up and keep her from falling. "The captain's gone into labour."

On the bridge, Tom's head had snapped up so fast from his console that it would end up giving him a headache. _"I'm afraid we are unable to transport you at the moment. The orbital platform is currently on the other side of the planet,"_ Tuvok reported, _"and we would cause a catastrophic shear that would remove half of the outer ring if we disengage now."_

Kathryn crumpled against him again, crying out in fear more than anything as her body started to override her commands. "How long?" Chakotay questioned, holding onto her as he looked around for a place where he could lay her down.

"_Another twenty-two minutes,"_ Harry's voice came through.

He finally spied a large flat-topped boulder sticking up about half a meter out of the ground off the side of the path, which would give her something to sit on. "What about the Flyer?" he suggested as he eased Kathryn down onto it.

"_It'll take fifteen minutes to launch the Flyer,"_ Tom broke in. _"And at least another twenty to get to you."_

"I don't care what you do," he snapped. "Just find a way to beam us up."

"_Aye Commander. Voyager out."_

Chakotay knelt down in front of Kathryn, who was laying on her side, half-curled into a ball. "Hang on, Kathryn," he told her. "Cavalry's on its way."

The urge to push took her over again, and she grabbed onto his arm as her body tried to double over. "Not soon enough," she gasped.

He reached for his tricorder, but found only empty pocket instead. "What the…" He patted and reached into every pocket, but the device was nowhere to be found. Then he remembered the last time he'd had it in his hand, back in the meadow when she decided to start a snowball fight. He had specifically folded it shut to put it back in his pocket, but he realized now that he must have missed it. "Oh great…"

"What?" she questioned, raising her head off the stone a little to try and see what was going on.

Cursing under his breath, he tried to make sure he didn't look worried, even though it was all he was right now. "Looks like I lost our tricorder."

"Great…" she muttered. Her head dropped again, her cheek coming to rest against the back of a hand that was stretched out across the stone's freezing surface. "Just great…"

"That's what I said." He watched her brows knit together as another contraction hit her, hard enough that she cried out again as the effort to push the baby out took over her entire body. Chakotay was a little unsure of what to do – it was all going so fast. "Tell me what's happening."

Gasping for breath, she told him, "I can feel her moving…on her way out…"

It took a moment for him to realize what he had to do, and another to remind himself that there was no choice in the matter. He got down face to face with her, brushing back the hair that had fallen in her eyes as he tightly grasped her hands. "We're going to have to do this here, Kathryn. But it'll be alright. You're going to be okay." He kissed her forehead. "I'm right here."

Her knuckles were white around his other hand, and she felt close to panicking. This was nothing like anybody had ever told her about. There was no warning, no signs, just her body's now uncontrollable urge to push the baby out. "Not exactly…a vacation highlight…"

His smile demonstrated all of his feelings for her at once. "You say that now."

She looked at him, focusing on his face. "I'm scared."

The compassion that he felt for her was nearly enough to break him. "I know. Just hang on." Her face contorted at the onset of another huge contraction, and again she used him to help her push. "You're doing great," he told her as he continued to stroke her hair. "Just hang on – it's almost over…" When it passed she rested her forehead on his arm as she tried to get air back into her lungs. "You're okay," he repeated to her. "You're okay..."

"She's…" She swallowed hard as she tried to grab more air. "She's almost…"

He immediately understood what she meant. "Okay. I'm going to check and see if I can see her yet. I'll be right back." He kissed her forehead again, then let go of her hands to move. After quickly undressing her lower half, he could see that the baby's head was already starting to appear, and it wouldn't take much for it to completely crown. "Listen to me, Kathryn," he told her as he hurriedly pulled his jacket off, setting it down on the ground beside him. "She's almost out. I need you to sit up so that I can help you and Delara at the same time." He stripped off his sweater and laid it out on the stone, shivering as the cold air bit through his thin shirt. Then he helped her to sit upright, moving her forward so she was sitting on his sweater at the edge of the boulder top. Resting back down on his heels in front of her, he took her hands in his. "Some first date, huh?"

"I've been on better…" was her moaned reply.

"Oh come on. This is much more interesting than just a boring old dinner." She fixed him with the nastiest, most dangerous death glare he had ever seen her issue, and he gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. "Okay. No more jokes." Another contraction took her over, and she pulled against his hands as she bore down again. "Okay Kathryn, push. Push!" He was correct when he guessed that it wasn't going to take much more for the baby to crown. "Here she comes!" Her last effort went from a stifled groan to an unbridled cry of agony, but it was enough to force the head out. He saw that she only had a moment to try and breathe before another contraction followed. "Come on, Kathryn," he coached. "Another big push." She tried again, but it wasn't enough to move the shoulders out. "Kathryn, come on," he coached her. "You've got to give me a big push."

"You push!" she snapped at him.

"One thing at a time." He saw the sign of another contraction. "Come on, Kathryn! Push!" This time it worked, and the shoulders finally appeared. Then with one final effort, the baby slipped out and into his trembling hands. Chakotay let out a held breath, then started to laugh in shock when Delara let out a loud, healthy wail. He looked up to see the astonishment on her face, chest still heaving as she tried to catch her breath. "You did it," he told her, still holding the squalling newborn in both his hands. "You did it, Kathryn!"

Kathryn started to reach forward, so he rose up on his knees again in order to pass the baby to her. Delara was still wailing as she pulled her to her chest, shaking fingers brushing over the top of her head. "Oh wow…" A stray tear started to run down her face. "Oh Delara…"

Chakotay climbed up and sat down beside her, wrapping his jacket around the two of them from the front to try and protect them from the cold. "She's so beautiful," he whispered as he pulled Kathryn close, reaching around her and tucking as much of his jacket under her as he could.

The baby was still slippery, so she lifted an arm out from under the jacket and used it to wrap under the baby so she wouldn't drop her. Steam was rising off the crying newborn's head, so together they tried to tuck the jacket in around Delara as best they could to keep her warm. "She's…incredible…" she breathed.

His heart was beating at about double time, so filled with love for her now he thought he'd burst. Fighting back his own tears, he gave her a kiss on the temple and told her, "Just like her captain." She started to laugh, mixing with a high flood of emotion as they gazed down at what she had just done. "I love you, Kathryn," he whispered to her, kissing her cheek.

Kathryn collapsed back against him, eyes sliding shut for a few moments to catch her breath. She eventually asked him, "Help me take my scarf off." He carefully pulled the shawl-like garment out from under her collar, handing it to her in a bundle. She then set to work wiping away as much of the blood and fluid from Delara's face as she could. "Shhh…" she tried to calm her. "It's okay, sweetheart. It's okay…"

"_Voyager to Commander Chakotay."_

He looked around, trying to remember what he had done with his communicator after the last call. After being hailed again, he realized that he had stuffed it back into the interior pocket of his jacket. "Sorry, little one," he apologized to the baby as he reached in past her and fumbled around until he fished the communicator back out. "Chakotay here. Where are you?"

"_We have completed our previous task,"_ Tuvok advised, _"and we are enroute to your position. What is your status?"_

They looked to each other, then down to the infant that had started to quiet down some. "You're a little late to the party, Tuvok," the captain told him as she continued to try and clean Delara up.

There was a long pause, and then eventually Tom's voice. _"Captain?"_

She smiled, instinctively looking up toward the stars. "We're alright, Tom."

Chakotay held her just a little bit tighter. "Tuvok, how long until you can transport us?"

"_Six minutes, Commander."_

"Have the Doctor standing by. We'll need to be beamed directly to Sickbay as soon as you're in range."

"_Understood. We will contact you when we are ready to transport. Voyager out."_

He looked down at the baby again, now noticing the faint brow ridges that were revealed when Kathryn wiped the blood from them. "You must have been in some hurry to meet your mom and dad," he told her softly, tracing the ridges with his fingers. Delara's eyes were wide open now and her voice quiet, and he pulled the jacket up a little more tightly around her. They didn't say much for a little while, until he heard Kathryn sniff loudly as a fresh wash of tears had spilled down her face. "You okay?"

She nodded uncertainly, trying to convince him that she was fine when she wasn't. Hearing what he said about meeting her parents had thrown her back into the sadness that had been with her the past few days. "She's not mine," she eventually murmured. The tears increased as the realization finally hit her. She had tried to keep from becoming attached to Delara, telling herself that it would be relatively easy to do. But now, with the moment to give up the infant she'd been carrying for five months looming, it hit her full force. "She's not mine…"

"Oh Kathryn…" Chakotay pulled her even closer, kissing her temple again and holding her as she cried it out. "I know. I know."

"_Voyager to Commander Chakotay. We are in range. Awaiting your order to transport to Sickbay."_

"Acknowledged. Stand by." He chuckled. "Never fails. Interrupting when we're in the middle of something important." She burst out in laughter, mixed with a few more tears. He drew a deep breath, and reached up to wipe some of her tears away with his thumb, leaving a small streak of blood across her cheek. "We'll be here again, Kathryn," he told her softly, reassuringly. "We will." He kissed her again, and when he pulled back, she looked into his eyes and saw everything that was going to see her through the rest of her life. "Are you ready?" he asked her.

Kathryn looked down at Delara again, a heavy weight on her chest as it all became more real. She drew her own deep breaths, blowing them out slowly through pursed lips. She thought back to the day the Doctor had asked her that very question, and just how much her answer had changed her life. "Ready as I'll ever be."

Savouring the last private moment he was going to get with her for a while, Chakotay put a finger under her chin and turned her toward him so he could kiss her once more. "Okay, let's go." He activated the communicator again. "Chakotay to Voyager. Three to beam directly to Sickbay."

* * *

The captain, first officer, and Voyager's newest crew member appeared in the middle of Sickbay's floor a few seconds later, where the Doctor was waiting for them. He immediately knelt down beside the shivering captain, his hand making circles around each of them with the tricorder's detachable sensor. The feeling of being transported startled Delara, and she started crying heavily out of fear. "It's okay," Kathryn tried to calm her again. "You're okay, honey." She noticed when the Doctor finished scanning both of them. "Is she alright?"

He smiled at her, reaching down to cradle the little girl's head. "She's just fine, Captain. You did a remarkable job." He got up and retrieved a laser scalpel, and was just about to cut the baby's cord when he thought of something. Looking to Chakotay, he offered, "Would you like to do it?" The suggestion caught Chakotay by surprise, and he looked a little flummoxed as he knelt down, following the Doctor's instructions with the instrument until the cord had been cut clean through. Taking the scalpel back, the hologram said, "Please get her up on the bed."

Kathryn handed Delara off to the Doctor, then was picked up by Chakotay and carried over to the diagnostic bed in the surgical bay. The baby's crying was somewhat muted when the Doctor took her into the lab, where he exchanged the first officer's bloody jacket for a clean blanket, wrapping her in it before returning to the main ward. "I'll wait to do her weight and measurements," he told them, "as I'm sure that Tom and B'Elanna will want to be here for it." Kathryn was sitting up, so he gently handed the baby back over to her so she could spend some last moments with her. He then grabbed another blanket for the captain, and while Chakotay tucked it in around her legs and feet, picked up his tricorder and started to scan her again.

Chakotay stood next to Kathryn with one arm around her shoulders while he reached down to touch Delara again, his heart melting when a little first curled around his finger. "How is the captain?" he asked.

"In fairly good condition, considering the circumstances." The Doctor snapped the tricorder shut. "Why didn't you contact the ship when you went into labour?"

She looked up from Delara, who was finally back down to whimpering now. "I didn't know I was, until she was already on her way out."

The hologram frowned. "What do you mean, you didn't know? Didn't you feel the contractions?"

"No. I didn't feel anything. The first sign I had was pressure from her head descending, and an overwhelming urge to push."

He flipped the tricorder open again, concentrating over what was left of her belly. "Hmmm…"

They both looked up at him. "What?" Chakotay questioned.

The Doctor made a couple of adjustments, then scanned the area again to be sure. "I cannot say for certain, but it looks like the salaematin that kept you from rejecting Delara also managed to desensitize the walls of the uterus." He finished the scan. "You could have been in labour for days and never known it."

The couple exchanged looks of shock. "How is that possible?" she asked. "I could feel her moving and kicking all the time."

"You could feel it because the motion would transfer through the rest of your body – the muscles and skin, and that's where your nerve endings would pick it up."

"What about her water breaking?" Chakotay asked. "She never felt that either."

"Well, there are a couple of possibilities there, Commander. Either her water never did actually break until Delara was born, or sometimes it does, but the baby's head acts like a sink stopper and keeps it from leaking out." He closed the tricorder again, looking very pleased with himself. "Something to definitely write a paper on."

"Well keep my name out of it," she told him. "I don't want my mother thinking she has grandchildren before I tell her what really happened."

"It's incredible that you couldn't feel anything," Chakotay said to her.

"Well Commander, as I said a few weeks ago, this is still a highly experimental procedure. One that, thankfully, has a happy ending." He pulled back the edge of the blanket, grinning at the sight of new life. "Captain, we need to deliver the placenta," he said, returning to business, "and then I'll perform some minor touch-up surgery on you." He activated the forcefield around the surgical bay, implementing the privacy screen to turn it opaque in case anybody wandered into Sickbay.

Chakotay took Delara from Kathryn so she could lie back, making sure to stay up near her head. Though he just delivered the baby she'd been carrying, he felt the need to give her a little bit of privacy – during delivery she needed his help, whereas now she really didn't. He pulled up a chair and sat down, which let her still see the baby as he held her. "They're going to be thrilled," he told her.

"I hope so," she murmured, reaching an arm out to run a finger along Delara's cheek. "I don't have a return policy."

Once the Doctor was finished, he gave her some green patient togs to change into, moved her over to one of the recovery beds, and wrapped her in a couple of warmed blankets to help calm her shivering. And when she was ready, he made the call. "Doctor to Lieutenant Paris and Lieutenant Torres. Please report to Sickbay."

Tom and B'Elanna both arrived outside Sickbay at the same time, finding each just as nervous as they were. "Are you ready?" she asked him.

"Yeah, I think so," he mumbled in contrast to his pale face and shaking hands. You?"

"Yeah." They hugged each other for a moment, then made their way into Sickbay. B'Elanna hesitated when she saw Kathryn sitting on the bed, a small bundle clutched in her arms. "Oh my god."

While Tom tried to convince her to get her feet to move, Chakotay spoke quietly to Kathryn for just a second before he walked over to B'Elanna. "There's somebody here that wants to meet you," he told her, resting his hand on her shoulder. "Come on."

Between the two of them, they managed to convince her to make the trip over to the bed, where an exhausted and somewhat melancholic Kathryn sat waiting for them. She reached a hand out to B'Elanna, gently pulling her close enough to see. "I have a surprise for you," she said softly. Tom stood behind his wife, his hands on her shoulders as they both peered down into the blanket. Chakotay resumed his place at her side, resting a hand on her back to let her know that he was there. Kathryn blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall again, then turned back to Delara. "Well little girl, this has been fun," she murmured as she stroked the baby's fine hair. "I'll never forget our time together." She leaned down and kissed her head, then turned and moved the bundle into B'Elanna's arms before she could start crying again.

Delara started to fuss when she was handed off, which was music to the new parents' ears. They went through the same gambit of emotions that Kathryn and Chakotay had been through shortly before, with the added bonus of knowing that theirs was for life. B'Elanna's mothering instincts seemed to kick in immediately as she tried to calm her, while Tom stood beside them with the dumbfounded look that only a new father could wear. After a while B'Elanna looked up at Kathryn with tears brimming in her eyes. "Kathryn, I –" She cleared her throat and tried again. "Thank you. Thank you so – so much." With her free arm, she hugged Kathryn as tightly as she could.

"You're welcome," Kathryn said to her, rubbing a comforting hand along the younger woman's back.

When she straightened up, B'Elanna turned to her old friend. "And you…" She grinned. "Thank you for everything. I can't imagine a better person to bring my daughter into the world." Chakotay didn't say anything, but took her into his arms and hugged her just as tightly.

Tom stepped up to the bed, and in a not-often-seen moment of sincerity, he told his captain, "You keep saving me, Kathryn..." He leaned down and kissed her cheek. When he stepped back he was teary-eyed, so to fend it off he quickly added, "Maybe I can convince B'Elanna to give up the leftover pizza after all." Everyone started to laugh, Chakotay clapping his hand on Tom's shoulder.

The sound of laughter brought the Doctor out of his office. "I see you've all met," he said happily, offering his congratulations to the young couple. He knew that without a little prodding they could have drawn this moment out forever, so he decided to intervene in order to give the captain some closure. "B'Elanna, Tom, if you'd like to come with me, we can weigh Delara and measure her, and enter all the information for her birth certificate."

They started to follow him into the lab, but not before B'Elanna remembered something. "Kathryn, did you come up with a name?"

She had been considering names for weeks, but nothing had seemed right. But now, after this experience, there was only one choice. "Alkira."


	12. Chapter 12

Delara

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: It's been 11 years, but somehow Paramount (and now CBS, apparently) still owns them. Since they don't want to seem to do anything with them anymore, I'm taking the _Voyager_ crew out to play. But I promise to give them only cookies and milk, and to have them home by eleven.

Note: This story was heavily inspired by the story "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by Mindy.

* * *

The Doctor released Kathryn a few hours later, telling her that she should use the rest of her shore leave time to rest and recover, and that under no circumstances was she to be conducting any business before then. He understood that there was a certain amount of trauma involved in giving up a child, even if it wasn't hers to start with, and he also knew that she would rather busy herself with work than actually deal with her emotions. Delara stayed for observation until the next day, just to make sure that she was truly healthy after being grown in a drug-protected environment and having been through a labour that they couldn't know the length of, but she too was soon released afterward to the delight of her parents.

After giving the baby over to Tom and B'Elanna, Kathryn broke down into a full ream of sorrow, burying her face in her hands as it consumed her. Chakotay sat with her on the bed and held her as she cried, whispering words of encouragement and love while keeping an eye out for anybody who might interrupt them. While he knew she wouldn't care in the moment, he also knew that she would be mortified afterward if somebody found her openly weeping. He was grateful that the Doctor had taken the new family to another room to give them some privacy, and he remembered to swing by Sickbay afterwards to thank him for his consideration.

After escorting her to her quarters, Chakotay put Kathryn to bed as soon as he got her there. Between the full day of hiking and play that they'd had before, Delara's birth, and then the all the consequent happenings afterward, she hadn't slept in more than twenty-four hours. She was out before he'd even finished tucking her in, completely oblivious to his presence. He sat with her for a little while afterwards, gently stroking her hair and consumed with feelings of his own. While he didn't feel it as acutely as she did, he also was feeling the loss. As they'd gotten closer, the idea of her being pregnant became comfortable and welcome, and then when she finally removed the wall between them, it made it all the more attaching. He thought back to the last time he'd thought he was a father, when Seska used his protective nature to lure them all into a trap. It had been a blow when he found out that the baby was actually Culluh's son; even if the boy had been conceived by deception, Chakotay still had felt an immediate need to protect him. Now, because Kathryn had carried her, he felt the same protective instinct toward Delara as well.

She awoke nearly fifteen hours later, feeling a little disoriented and completely worn out, so tired that she couldn't have gone back to work even if she'd wanted to. Her mind immediately went back through what had happened over the last two days, and she lay in bed for a while, reliving the experience and trying to wrap her head around it. Eventually she moved to get up, which felt like something completely different again now that the baby was gone. As she made her way into the living area, she started to acutely miss the feeling of kicking and turning, and was disappointed when instead of finding a robust baby when she laid a hand on her belly, she found just a jiggly mass of empty tissue with no personality.

Despite her tired state, Kathryn was unable and somewhat unwilling to sleep any more. So after retrieving a drink, she sat on the end of the couch, her knees pulled to her chest as she watched the planet turn below. In her hands, she unconsciously rolled her half-filled thermal mug, her thoughts still back in that forest. The door chime shook her back into the present, and she knew who it was before it even opened.

"Am I disturbing you?" he asked as he stepped inside, carrying a small object in his hand.

"Not at all." They just looked at each other, and she noticed that he was in uniform. She finally asked him, "Is there a problem, Commander?"

Chakotay shook his head. "No Captain. No problems." He moved in and sat down in front of her, resting his hand over the bare feet that peeked out from under her robe. "I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing."

Despite her best efforts, she let out a huge yawn that she hid behind the back of her hand. "I'm fine."

He smiled, remembering another conversation. "You'd say that if you just had your legs torn off by a traeken beast."

She remembered too, giving him a small smile in return. "Why are you in uniform?"

"It's only temporary," he told her. "Teekra had some questions about the new power unit we installed on the orbital station, so Nicoletti asked if I would go along with her for moral support."

"He must have been surprised to see you," she commented.

"He was," he said with a nod. "When I told him what happened yesterday, he was beyond excited." He chuckled at the memory of the world leader, practically giddy with delight as if it had been his own wife. Handing her what was in his hand, he added, "He wanted me to give you this…" The object turned out to be a flask, which looked like stone and was deceptively cool in her hand. Opening it and sniffing its contents, Kathryn smiled when she realized that it was mestleberry wine. "He also said that he can't wait to meet Delara." Just the mention of her name made Kathryn's expression drop. "Hey…"

She shook her head, wanting to close the subject before they could get into it again. Reaching for her mug, she took a long swallow from it, and saw him watching her carefully. "It's just hot water and lemon," she told him with that familiar wrinkle in her nose. "I seem to have developed a taste it."

"Don't worry," he laughed. "I'm sure your tolerance for coffee will come back before you know it." He reached around her knees for her hand, gently rubbing his thumb along her fingers. "I actually came to see if you might be interested in going back down to the lodge with me," he said. "We do still have it for another two days."

Kathryn looked at him long and hard as she considered it. After everything she'd been through lately, it certainly seemed like a good idea. And besides, she would still have to go back to collect her things anyway. "Okay," she said softly.

He smiled, a little relieved since he'd figured he was going to be in for a fight on it. "Just give me an hour – there's a couple things I need to get done before we go back." Getting onto his feet, he leaned down and kissed her before heading out the door.

* * *

Luckily the time zone that the lodge was in corresponded pretty closely with the ship's clock, so they didn't have to adjust their internal clocks too much. Kathryn was still so tired that it wouldn't have mattered much anyway. It was mid-morning when they arrived, but by early afternoon she was in need of a nap. So while she slept, Chakotay busied himself outside. After hiking back up to the meadow to retrieve his tricorder, he took a few snapshots of their surroundings and collected a few odds and ends that he wanted to help him remember this time they spent together.

She was awake when he returned, finding her curled up in one of the wide armchairs that sat in front of the fireplace, wrapped in a colour-blocked throw as she wrote on a padd. "I hope you're not working," he said as he closed the door, a slight frown on his face.

"No, not working," she confirmed with a sigh. "Journaling."

Now there was an answer that he had not expected in the least. "Journaling?" He braced one hand against the solid wood doorframe of the tent and pushed his shoes off with his toes before going over to her. "I thought that's what personal logs were for."

"They are. But after that day you found me handwriting my log in Maestro DaVinci's studio, I found that I really enjoy putting my personal thoughts down into words. The kind of stuff that I don't ever want Starfleet Command to see if something happened to us." She thumbed the padd off, leaning forward to put it down on the small coffee table. "What have you been up to?"

"Just collecting a few things," he said. One of the objects in his hand was an emerald green flower from the bush that had been growing in the snow, which he now handed to her as he sat down on the arm of her chair. "For you."

Her heart melted a little. "Oh…" The scent, though strong, was light. "Thank you," she said softly, offering her hand to him. Then she realized where he had gotten it from. "You went all the way back up there?"

He nodded. "I had to go back and get my tricorder. For all the good it's going to do us now."

She laughed. "Yeah, you're a little late to the boat on that one."

He purposely put a look of mock despair on his face, making her laugh even more. "That's a low blow, Kathryn."

"No more than a snowball." While he didn't have any snow, his hands were still freezing cold from being outside, so he took the opportunity to reach over and put his hands down the back collar of her sweater. "Stop that!" she laughed, squirming to get out from under him.

Chakotay chuckled. "Move over, Miss Janeway." She did as he asked, sliding over on the cushion to make room for him, and then when he settled in, covered him with half of the small blanket. "Thanks."

"Well we've got to warm those hands up somehow," she told him, a bit of naughtiness creeping into her voice. Before he could say anything, she kissed him.

Internally, Chakotay was more than relieved. He still hadn't been able to shake the fears he had that she might change her mind about things. It had been a shock when it didn't happen after the night he spent in her bed, so he had been waiting for the other shoe to drop after Delara's birth. When Kathryn pulled back, she could see exactly what was running through his mind. "No, Chakotay," she whispered as she ran her fingertips down over his tattoo, "I haven't changed my mind."

He grinned sheepishly, caught. But in all seriousness he said, "You still can, you know."

The corner of her mouth quirked up just a little, but she fully appreciated what he meant. "You know, a few months ago maybe I would have taken you up on that. But I really have learned that life is too short." She held his cheek in his hand. "It scares me, and I'm horribly afraid of being anything less than professional. But…" It took a minute to try and figure out how she wanted to say it. "But there's no one that I trust more than you."

Chakotay could feel the sting of tears in his eyes, but was able to fend them off before they could escape. "I'm glad to hear you say that," he quietly told her as he reached up and brushed her hair from her face. "After these last few weeks, I don't know if I could go back." He looked deep into her eyes, finding only honesty there, and pulled her into a fierce embrace. When he finally let her go, she gave him another small kiss before settling in against his chest, letting out a sigh of contentment when he pulled the blanket up over her shoulders to cover them both.

They sat there in silence for hours, just watching the logs crackle and pop in the fireplace until long after the sun had set outside. He thought Kathryn had fallen asleep again until she shifted her position a bit, sneaking her arm around the back of his waist. "Do you think they'll know?" she asked him, barely loud enough for him to hear.

His gaze was held by the fireplace, but he heard every word she said. "The crew? I doubt it." He started to stroke her hair. "Besides, most of them think we've been sleeping together for years." Then his hand stopped abruptly. "Why haven't we been doing that, anyway?"

"Because you're far too patient," she muttered, readjusting her head on his chest. After a while she admitted, "I guess I do keep my emotions locked down pretty tightly."

_Now there's the understatement of the century,_ he thought to himself. "As a captain, it's part of the job." Even to him, the reasoning sounded hollow. "You can't exactly lose your composure when you're staring down the Borg queen."

She drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I use it as a shield."

"Yes, you do." He rubbed his hand over her shoulder, telling her that it wasn't a criticism. "And I understand that it's not an easy thing to let go of." He thought back to his first weeks and months as Voyager's first officer. "But just like you can't let your feelings out, I had to learn how to rein mine in." Kathryn sat up and looked at him with a perplexed expression. "What I mean to say," he continued, "is that it's possible. It just takes some time, and a lot of effort."

A memory of her own flashed through her mind – the very first time he set foot on her bridge, shouting at Tom Paris with an anger that could have murdered the pilot by sight alone. Truth be told, she had forgotten all about that side of him, her selective memory only placing with her now as he was – the calm tower of strength she'd come to depend on. "Kathryn, the crew knows that you care about them, and they worry about you. They just want you to be happy, and to have friends and fun and love just like they do. You can't be afraid to let yourself get close to them."

She frowned. "I've gotten close to people."

He took her hands in his, rubbing his thumb over her fingers. "Not for a long time. In six years, I'm the only one that you have really been friends with. And even that had its limits." His voice turned even kinder when he said, "If it hadn't been for Delara, we wouldn't be here like this now."

It took a long time before she spoke again. "You're right. I've still be using guilt and protocol to keep myself from getting close to anybody. It made it easier than letting myself be devastated if something happened to one of them." When she said it, a series of faces flashed through her memory: her father, Justin, Mark, friends she lost at Wolf 359, and through Starfleet service in general. Her expression softened, and she looked down at their hands again when she said, "I guess I should have listened to you all along."

"Can I get that in writing?"

When she looked up, he was wearing that disarming grin that she loved so much. "Absolutely not," she told him. "There are some things I refuse to guarantee. But I will promise to try and open up a little more. To them … and to you."

The humour lifted from Chakotay's smile, leaving gentle admiration behind. "I have something for you," he said suddenly, throwing back the blanket and getting up.

She watched him move across the room, confused. "What is it?" He dug into the pocket of the new jacket he had replicated that morning, and pulled out a small box which he then brought over and put into her hands. Kathryn looked down at the carved wood on the hinged lid, which formed a delicate Alkirian pattern that vaguely resembled waves. "What's this?"

"Open it."

She tried to figure it out from his expression, but he wasn't giving anything away. So she lifted the lid, and found a beautiful gold chain coiled against the soft fabric inside, and when she pulled it out, a small blue-grey stone pendant tumbled out, twisting and turning and reflecting ever so slightly in the light. "Oh Chakotay…" she breathed. "It's lovely."

"The chain is from the market in the capital," he explained. "But the stone is a piece of the boulder that Delara was born on."

Her eyes moved from the pendant back to him. "It is?"

He nodded. "I thought that this way, when you wear it, you can always keep a little bit of that memory near your heart."

A tear ran down her cheek without her even noticing it. She laid a hand on his chest, the open neckline of his sweater cutting across her palm and letting her feel the warmth of his skin underneath it. He again covered it with his own hand, and watched as she gazed at him with amazement. "I love you," she eventually whispered with another tear. Caught speechless when he finally heard her say it, the only thing Chakotay could do was kiss her again, his brow furrowing with the emotional wave he now felt.

"Here…" he said when he finally found his voice again, reaching for the necklace. She turned around and pulled her hair aside so he could put it on her, and he lowered the chain down and fastened the clasp, kissing the back of her neck before letting it drop down onto her skin. It was long enough that the pendant came to rest just where her breasts met, nestling in over her heart as if she had been born with that spot waiting for it. Before she could turn back to face him, he pulled her back against him, laying gentle kisses along her neck. "I love you, Kathryn."


	13. Chapter 13

Delara

By Eydie Munroe

Disclaimer: It's been 11 years, but somehow Paramount (and now CBS, apparently) still owns them. Since they don't want to seem to do anything with them anymore, I'm taking the _Voyager_ crew out to play. But I promise to give them only cookies and milk, and to have them home by eleven.

Note: This story was heavily inspired by the story "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" by Mindy.

* * *

The rest of their shore leave went by in a blur. They each found that spending so much time together at the beginning of their relationship was the best thing they could have done, and not having to worry about appearances or professionalism in the initial hours seemed to take care of her uneasiness. Surprisingly, it was Kathryn who grabbed Chakotay's hand just as they were beamed back, still clutching it when they appeared in the transporter room.

After being cleared for duty by the Doctor, Kathryn decided to throw an impromptu dinner in her quarters for the senior staff that evening. They were surprised at first, wondering what had made her do it after keeping to herself for so long. And she had been nervous about having them around. But the conversation came easily to everyone, and before they knew it, it was after midnight. It was also her first chance to see Delara since handing her over to B'Elanna a few days before. She handled it better than Chakotay thought she would, showing her warm maternal side but avoiding the emotional traps she'd been caught in before. He reminded himself that she, and her hormonal levels, were returning to normal.

She got up an hour earlier than usual the next morning, taking the time to read through the latest status reports and bring herself up to speed before returning to the bridge. It was the first time she tried coffee since giving birth, and she found that Chakotay had been wrong – a third of a cup, and she started to notice her fingers trembling as they pressed the buttons on her terminal. With a shake of her head, she recycled the cup and ordered her new standby, actually stopping to inhale the scent of warm lemon before taking a sip. _That man…_ she thought to herself, a laugh in her head going along with it.

"_Bridge to Janeway."_

Kathryn looked up, wondering why Chakotay was on the bridge before she was. "Go ahead."

"_We just received a message from President Teekra. He's ready to beam aboard."_

"Have him escorted to the conference room when he arrives," she told him, "and ask Tom and B'Elanna to meet us there."

"_Acknowledged. Chakotay out."_

She got up and walked into the bedroom to retrieve her uniform jacket. When she picked it up off the foot of the bed and turned around, she caught the image in the vanity's large mirror, and took a moment to examine herself. Even though it had only been a handful of days, she was already well on her way back to her regular figure, though she knew it would take some work to get right back to a size four. More importantly though, she looked more rested than she had in months, and there was a smile on her face that had been mostly absent in recent weeks. But her hair was a mess – unconsciously scratching her head while she read meant it needed to be fixed.

The necklace that Chakotay had given her was sitting on the shelf next to where she set the brush down, and she picked it up to take another look at it. The stone felt warm in her hand, the chain soft as it dangled over her fingers. In the future she would only wear it on special occasions to try and make sure that she never lost it, but for her first day back at work, and the day that they would leave Alkira for good, it was comforting. She allowed herself to hold onto the stone a moment more, then reached behind her neck to fasten it and tucked it in under her turtleneck, smiling to herself as the stone again naturally nestled in next to her heart. It was against regulations, but she didn't care. No one would ever see it anyway.

* * *

Teekra was humming to himself and looking out the portals when she arrived in the briefing room; seeing his world from above never ceased to amaze him. He turned at the sound of the door opening, instantly breaking into happy laughter. "Kathryn, my friend!" he greeted her, his arms wide open with warmth.

This time, she walked up to him and took both of his hands in hers, knowing that she was going to miss this man's spirit very much. "It's so good to see you again, Teekra."

He looked her up and down, gesturing to her abandoned midsection. "You have had the baby, Commander Chakotay tells me."

She nodded, her hand instinctively moving to cover it. "I did. A little girl named Delara."

"It is indeed a blessing!" he expounded. "She is well?"

"She's just fine," she confirmed with a smile.

His happiness faded. "I am so sad that you're leaving today. We have truly enjoyed having you and your crew visit us." The president lit up a little bit again. "And we're honoured that such a unique experience as your sur… sur…"

"Surrogacy," she helped him.

"Surrogacy." He processed the word, then incorporated it into what he was saying. "That your surrogacy was completed on our world."

Kathryn patted his arm. "So am I, Teekra."

The doors to the bridge hissed open before she could say anything else and admitted Tom and B'Elanna. The baby was bundled in her mother's arms, a dark blue receiving blanket draped over her as B'Elanna carried her. "Hello Mr. President," Tom greeted him warmly. "It's good to see you again."

If Teekra could have been any happier, he would have burst into a supernova. "Congratulations to you, my friends!" he exclaimed, with a volume that was deceptively soft. "You are now a family!"

B'Elanna looked down at her sleeping daughter's face with pride. "We sure are."

Tom rested his hand on her back. "Mr. President, meet Miss Delara Alkira Paris."

The Alkirian leader was caught completely off guard, but swam with pride knowing that this child would take a piece of her birthplace with her for the rest of her life. He leaned forward to peer down at the infant, taking in all the details of the little girl. "She's very beautiful, Lieutenant," he complimented. "Truly a reflection of you."

The engineer blushed. "Thank you, Mr. President."

From her vantage point, Kathryn couldn't help but smile. Even though she had been nervous and hesitant in the beginning, B'Elanna seemed to be a natural, and it was endearing. "I have brought a gift for you," she heard the president say. He turned and picked up a small box that had been sitting in the middle of the conference table and held it out for them to take.

Tom took the baby from his wife, laying her against his shoulder and bouncing her a little when he heard her starting to mewl. B'Elanna rested the box in one hand and lifted the lid, finding a multi-coloured rounded base inside. She turned it over in her hands as she examined it, but couldn't figure it out. "What is it?"

"It's a colour player," the president explained, reaching over to press a button embedded in the side of it. As soon as he did, the base started to glow like a night light and shift colours, and soft, unfamiliar music started to play. "This is a traditional gift for Alkirian children. Since colour is so integral to our brain development, it starts a young one early in their development."

B'Elanna started to smile as she listened to it, noticing that the baby had grown quiet. Tom turned slightly so she could see Delara, who had fallen asleep on his shoulder, her lips resting against her tiny fist. "Thank you, sir. It's a wonderful gift."

Teekra turned to the captain, who was happily watching the exchange in front of her. "And I have something special for you, Captain." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, flat package that had been hidden in a beautiful piece of red and gold artisan fabric.

Her curiosity piqued, Kathryn opened up the cloth to find a type of picture frame inside, image side down. She turned it over, and gasped. Clear as if they had been there again, it was a picture of her and Chakotay, petting the baby riskorri that had perched itself on her pregnant belly. "How – how did you…"

The president grinned at her. "One of the technologies we do possess, Captain, is the ability to transfer any of our memories into a number of different forms. This was such a unique moment in our history that I thought you might appreciate having an additional memory of it."

She looked up from the picture. "Alkira will always hold so many memories for me." She extended her hand to him. "Thank you, Teekra."

He took her tiny hand in both of his. "You and your crew will remain in our memories as well. I know that it is unlikely, but I do hope that there's a way you can come back and visit us again one day."

Kathryn smiled at him. "So do I."

"Goodbye, my friend. Safe journey to you."

* * *

The captain settled into her seat on the bridge a few minutes later, still carrying her gift from Teekra. When Chakotay asked her about it, she wordlessly handed it over to him to look at. "That's incredible," he commented.

She nodded, a wistful smile on her face. "They are an amazing people, Chakotay. I'm going to miss them."

He reached across the console and briefly took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I think we all will." He gave her a subtle wink, then let go of her hand and passed the photograph back to her. "Are you ready to go?"

Rather than answer him directly, she drew a deep breath and turned forward in her seat. "Contact the orbital traffic regulator," she ordered.

"Channel open," Tuvok's reply came back.

"This is Voyager," she announced to the unseen attendant. "We are ready for departure."

"_Leave is granted,"_ the attendant replied instantly. _"Safe journey to you, Voyager."_

"Thank you. Voyager out." Shifting in her seat, she took one last look at Alkira. "Ensign Baytart, take us out. Set a course for the Alpha Quadrant – warp six."


End file.
